Meditation and Prayer

Review: The Nature and Function of Meditation

0:05 We continue this morning our discussion focused on the general area of the disciplines of secret prayer and the private reading of the Word of God, and the general question that sets the framework of our discussion is, how should we read the Scriptures? We are presently concerned with that broad question, and the answers we have thus far arrived at are, the Scriptures should be read systematically, dependently, that is, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, inquisitively, or with an active mind, and then meditatively. And now it is on this fourth line of thought that we are concerned in particular. The general question, how should we read the Scriptures? The more specific question that engages us now is the matter of, what does it mean? What does it mean to read the Scriptures meditatively?

1:03 Thus far, we have established from the Scriptures that meditation is a duty. We have come up with several working definitions of meditation, which have as their common denominator the fact that meditation is a conscious, volitional, mental activity. Secondly, that its subject matter is always the Word, and the relationship of that Word to us where we live. And thirdly, its end is always the Word.

1:30 There is always godliness in some dimension of that matter of godliness, whether we think of it in terms of practical experience, or we think of it in terms of praise and worship. The end of meditation is some dimension of godliness. And then last week, we were discussing together, and then left the question hanging, what is the precise function of meditation in the spiritual life? That it is a duty, we see.

2:00 That the Word of God is to be the subject matter of meditation, we have seen. That its essence is this conscious, volitional, mental activity, engaging our minds with the Word, the end in view being godliness, that's all been established. But precisely how does meditation function in the life of the child of God? And the answers that we came up with were, it rivets the truth to the mind, it brings light and heat to bear.

2:30 Upon the life, and we use the illustration of the magnifying glass, the light of the truth that is diffused generally by reading, by meditation, is bent to burn in upon the heart and the mind and the life in specific areas. And then someone suggested that meditation immunizes us in our spirits. The truth of God takes residence in meditation, and we are laying up the Word in our hearts that we might not sin against God. And then I suggested that meditation enables us to see the truth in its interrelatedness.

Introducing the Fifth Function: Meditation Provokes Prayer

3:07 Now your homework, that's the end of our review, and if you wonder why I'm not looking at you, it's because when I have to condense seven hours of study into five minutes, it takes a great discipline, and so I just stick with what I've written out and thoughtfully prepared in the study. Now I left you with this homework assignment, and it was this, there is a fifth and very fundamental function. The fifth function of meditation, which has not yet been discussed, it's been alluded to, it's been hinted at, but it's not been discussed, and since it is one of the primary, if not the primary function of meditation, we cannot leave the subject of meditation and move to the matter of prayer until we have in some measure discussed this fifth function of meditation. Now those of you that did your homework and thought on the matter, what is the answer? What is the answer that you have prepared for us this morning? One of the fundamental functions of meditation that we've not yet mentioned, all right, Bob?

4:08 It drives us to prayer, all right? Someone else who did his homework, what did you come up with? Will you hear last week, Mrs. Brown?

4:35 Yes. All right. It helps us to see something of the necessity of God in our lives, all right? Someone else.

4:46 Greg? If you will, so everyone can hear. All right. Thank you.

4:51 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

4:58 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

5:10 Thank you. Thank you. All right. It's a means that the Lord uses to give us specific direction and counsel, as to what actions we take in the circles today.

5:15 All right. So it's a means of counsel or direction, all right? Someone else. A primary function of meditation we've not yet considered, all right?

5:38 How could we phrase that then? It's a means of sending before us the greatness of God, is that what we're saying? Or some facet of God's goodness to us, how would we frame that? You understand?

5:52 At least we know what we're saying, but we can't say it as accurately as we'd like to, all right?

5:59 It's a means setting God before us, which would be God in His works, God in His mercy. All right, someone else.

6:19 It is a means of holding communion with God.

6:43 Wouldn't this come under what we would call the immunizing power of meditation? It fortifies us against the intrusion of the world. All right, Jim? It's a primary and only means that conditions us or prepares us to partake of that life which is to come.

7:03 All right, it's a primary means of conditioning us to partake of the life which is to come. What do you mean by that? The new world where we'll be dwelling with the Lord and there will be total righteousness. There will be no sin.

7:21 The environment we know now will be just about forgotten. And the environment that has become now to us is foreign. And beginning with regeneration, our minds must be renewed, reconditioned to the environment in which it should come. Oh, I think the word is the only means that can give us these concepts and how we will conduct ourselves and live in that world.

7:47 All right, so what you're saying is that meditation is the means of bringing the world to come into the world that is now. Is that what we're saying? Meditation is the means of bringing the world that is to come into the world that is now, right? All right, anyone else have some thoughts as to a major?

8:07 Now, we're not trying to be exhausted because I'm trying to get this whole first area of subject matter done in 13 weeks. We're trying to move in quarters of study. But a primary, an essential, a fundamental, a rudimentary aspect of the function of meditation, Bob, right? Certainly, together, various precepts that we find in Scripture forms the whole pattern.

8:37 All right, so this comes to... In this matter, it shows us the interrelatedness of all truth, whether it's promise, duty, privilege, provision, whatever it is.

8:45 Now, all of these things are certainly true, all of them, no question. These are functions of meditation, some of them more primary, some of them more essential than others. And without negating any of them, the primary, one of the primary or the fundamental functions of meditation that we have not previously mentioned, that I intended to underscore, this morning, and this is not in any way to cancel these, for it's been mentioned explicitly and implied in several others, is this simple statement, meditation is the ordained means to provoke and give direction to biblical prayer. Meditation is the ordained means to provoke and give direction to biblical prayer. Now, let's see how this happens, and I'm going to lecture for a little bit, because what I have here, I doubt you would give me in this form, and therefore I'm going to take the liberty of just giving it to you, and then I hope that will provoke discussion. Now, some of the great problems of true prayer are, number one, the problem of bringing unwarranted desires and expressions of mind and heart. One of the great problems of prayer is that of praying for things

Three Great Problems of Prayer

10:10 that we ought not to pray for. And James deals with that problem very, very explicitly and pointedly in chapter 4 of his letter. He says, ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your own lust. In other words, the problem with these people was not that they were prayerless, the problem was that their prayers were unacceptable.

10:41 Their prayers were being framed, here's God, and here are these Christians, and the prayers that they were addressing to God were not framed by the revealed word of God, but their prayers were being framed by their own corrupt desires. Now, you see, it's no little problem in prayer to discern whether or not the things I'm bringing to God are being pushed out of my heart by my remaining corruption, or being pushed out of my heart by the influence of the word of God upon my heart. I want to get that one. I see you people bothered. When I'm teaching and I see people distracted, that distracts me. That's just one of my peculiar idiosyncrasies, I guess.

11:37 But I have good company in it, or I'm in good company. Spurgeon said, if the eye of a blind man was not on him when he preached, it bothered him. So...

11:48 I don't know what he meant. Alright? Now, that's a great problem in prayer. Now, if you've never considered that problem, you better.

11:57 That's a tremendous problem. Shall I insult God by bringing to Him that which is simply the spilling out of my remaining corruption? Or am I bringing to Him that which is the result of the influence of the word upon my heart? Isaiah 59 is a commentary upon this as well.

12:16 Second great problem of prayer is this. Desiring to pray, but having little present fuel for the various dimensions of prayer. Now, you quickly give me some of the dimensions of prayer. Some of the specific kinds of prayer that we are to engage in.

12:32 Just one word each. Praise, intercession, petition.

12:42 That's describing how we're to do it. But prevailing would be prevailing intercession, prevailing supplication. Alright, these various things are right. Praise, confession, intercession, supplication.

12:52 Now, one of the great problems of prayer is that many times when we've come to the appointed time to pray, there's so little fuel in the heart for the various dimensions of prayer. Maybe there is no present awareness of sin. Though the conscience tells us that there's sin, for the life of us there doesn't seem to be an ounce of true remorse and true regret for sin. So we cannot engage in confession with any degree of confidence that we are truly confessing.

13:23 Or, it's the matter of praise. We know that we ought to praise God, but there seems to be so little fuel for praise. We know that we ought to intercede, but for what? There's so much need, so much need everywhere.

13:37 Within my own heart, within my own family, within my own assembly. And so there is little fuel for intercession in terms of pointed, specific things for which I ought to pray. There's perhaps little sensitivity for supplication. I don't really seem to enter in to the burdens of my brothers and sisters.

13:57 Well, we're going to see that meditation is God's remedy for this peculiar problem, but let's just deal with the problems of prayer. The first one, bringing unwarranted desires. Secondly, having little fuel, present fuel for the various dimensions of prayer. And thirdly, perhaps our greatest problem in prayer, lacking faith and confidence as we pray.

14:19 And so much of the promises of God, or so many of them, include this matter of believing that we are heard. When ye pray, believe that ye have the things that ye request or ask, and ye shall have them. Ask, and it shall be given you. How much more shall the Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him?

14:40 So these are three of the great problems of prayer. Now, if you're not conscious of those problems, it's simply because you've never really prayed. I'll say it again, if you're not conscious of those problems, it's because you've never really prayed. No burdens and problems with prayer equals no true prayer.

Meditation as the Remedy for Unwarranted Prayers

15:02 Now, how are we to deal with these problems? Well, I suggest that meditation is designed to deal specifically with these very issues. And let's see how it does. First of all, take the problem of bringing unwarranted prayers to God.

15:21 What place does meditation have in dealing with that first problem? Well, according to our Lord, and let's look at His words in John 15. Here is the remedy for that. John 15 and verse 7.

15:43 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. You see what he's saying? There is such an inworking of the Word of Christ into the very fiber of our inner being, that the things we desire and the things we seek and the things that we aspire to are a reflection of the impress of the Word of Christ upon us. Therefore, they are warranted desires.

16:21 It's a parallel to the statement, Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. What kind of a heart? A heart that has found itself delighted in the Lord, that is, in all that He is and all that He's committed to give and to be to His people. And so it's as we meditate that the Word of Christ begins to dwell in us richly, begins to mold and shape our aspirations.

16:50 So instead of going to God and asking for little trinkets and pouting when He doesn't give them, we begin to pray for things that He's really committed to give. More likeness to His Son. More compassion for the lost. More sensitivity to sin.

17:05 We begin to occupy ourselves with the kind of things that God is deeply concerned about. The interest of His kingdom, the hallowing of His name, the extension of the knowledge of Christ throughout the earth. And then another text that indicates this is 1 John chapter 5. One of the great passages on prayer.

17:30 1 John chapter 5. Beginning with verse 14. And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know we have the petitions which we have asked of Him.

17:53 So you see, the great condition of confidence in prayer according to this verse is the knowledge that we're praying according to the will of God. Now then, the great question is, if I can only have confidence in prayer, when I have confidence that I'm praying according to the divine will, how do I discover the divine will? Well, some would say, you put your hand, as it were, upon the present actings of your heart, and you sort of read the divine will by the motions of your own heart. That's a foolish thing.

18:27 For whoso trusteth in his own heart is a fool, God says in the book of Proverbs. The divine mind and the divine will are discovered here. The Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, not only as to our duty out there, but as to our duty in the closet. It is the Scriptures that are to give direction to our prayers.

18:51 And you have wonderful examples of this in the Word of God itself. When did the prophet Daniel set himself to pray for the restoration of the people of God? He says, I understood from the book of Jeremiah that God was committed to do this, this, and this. I began to plead with God to do precisely what He said He would do.

19:13 And you have that wonderful example in Ezekiel 36, where God says, I'll do this, this, this, this, this, and this. And then He says, Moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. To do what? The very things I promised.

19:28 For you see, the revelation of God's will in promise and prophecy is not a call to sit back and watch God do it. It is a call to plead with Him to bring it to pass. And so meditation becomes that instrument by which the will of God objectively revealed in Scripture filters into the heart and mind and spirit and then gives such direction to my prayers as will help me to bring warranted petitions to God. The first great difficulty of prayer then, bringing unwarranted petitions.

20:08 The remedy for that difficulty is meditation by which the word of Christ dwells in us, richly framing, shaping, and molding our petitions. Meditation upon the objective revelation of His will, which in turn enables us to come confident that we are heard. Well, what about that second problem of prayer? Having little present fuel for the various dimensions of prayer.

Meditation as the Fuel-Making Factory for Prayer

20:37 How does meditation answer to that problem? Well, the answer is quite obvious. It is the fuel-making factory for prayer. Let's turn to a couple of examples in the Psalms where this is quite evident.

20:53 Psalm 5, the first example, and verse 1.

21:10 Give ear to my words, O Lord. Now, without reading any further, what does it sound like the psalmist is asking God to do? Put it in your own words. Lord, hear me as I pray, right?

21:24 Give ear to my words, O Lord. Now, here's the parallel thought. Consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee do I pray.

21:39 O Lord, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice, in the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee, and will keep watch. You see what he's saying? He's saying, Lord, listen to my prayers, which is simply another way of saying consider my meditation. That is the fruit of my meditation.

21:59 So here the psalmist intimates that prayer was but the extension of his meditation. The things upon which he meditated gave direction and impetus to his specific petitions before God. And apparently had been meditating on some of the things that are then laid out before us, on the fact that wicked men cannot hold communion with God, and that God abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man, and therefore his plea is a plea for holiness. As he meditates upon the fact that a holy God cannot hold loving communion with unholy creatures, it drives from his heart this plea to God, that he might walk in holiness and in godliness before the Lord. Again, Psalm 19 and verse 14. Here is a psalm of praise. Praise for God's self-revelation in creation and God's self-revelation in His law.

23:08 Verses 1 to 6, God's revelation of Himself in the world without. Verses 7 and following, God's revelation of His mind in the world without. In holy scripture. Then he says, turning to petition again, if the function of scripture is to warn me, if it is to expose my sin, verses 11 and 12, now he prays, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.

23:37 Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and clear from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Here is this parallel between the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart.

23:58 This can be considered as a general petition, that the words of my mouth in the entirety of my life, as well as the thoughts of my heart from which they spring, be acceptable to thee. But if it's true in the entirety of life, certainly it's true in the area of prayer. That the meditation of our hearts, giving direction to the words that we utter, will ensure us that those words are well pleasing unto God. Now turn for an example of how this actually works.

24:29 Psalm 103. Here the psalmist is apparently conscious of a lack of fuel for praise. He would engage in the holy exercise of praise. So how does he start?

24:45 He starts by talking to himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

24:59 Having talked to himself, he now obeys what he said to himself. He tells himself, don't forget. Don't pass over His mercies. Now he does exactly what he told himself to do.

25:11 And he begins to meditate. He begins to enumerate the various mercies of God, the benefits of God, the blessings of God to his soul, who forgives thine iniquities, who heals thy diseases, who redeems thee, who crowns thee, who satisfies thee, who executes righteous acts. Verse 8, the Lord is merciful in graces. He will not always chide.

25:33 And when he's done reiterating all of these things in his consciousness, where does he end up? Verse 20, bless the Lord, He, His angels. He started out by calling on David to bless God. The great sweep of God's goodness.

25:50 He says it's going to take more than David to bring God the praise that He deserves. And he calls on all the angels and the heavenly hosts, those that are mighty in strength to fulfill His word. Bless the Lord, all His hosts. He ministers of His that do His pleasure.

26:04 Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. You see what he's doing? He's been so drawn out of himself that he calls on the whole creation of heaven and earth to join him in the exercise of praise. Now, what brought him to that?

26:19 Well, you see, meditation was one of the means that God used. It gave fuel for his praise. Or in the words of Psalm 39 that we looked at last week in another connection, I said, I will take heed to my ways, Psalm 39, 1, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.

26:40 I was done with silence and held my peace even from good. And my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot. It was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned.

26:51 Then spake I with my tongue. And what did he speak? A petition. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is.

27:02 Let me know how frail I am. His prayer was driven from his heart as the fruit of his meditation. So then, it is in meditation that our desires are regulated by the word, meeting the first great difficulty of prayer. It is in meditation that we are given fuel for prayer, fuel for praise, fuel for confession, fuel for reflection and aspirations for holiness and the recognition of the brevity of life and our dependence upon God.

27:36 And certainly the third difficulty of prayer, which is the matter of being able to pray in faith. This difficulty is to be met by meditation. Meditation upon the character of prayer. The character of God.

Meditation for Faith and Confidence in Prayer

27:49 And certainly this ties in with what we have been hearing Sunday evenings and the prayer of Nehemiah. If he is to see God as the one who is able to meet the needs of his people in oppression back in Palestine, he must see him as the great, the terrible, the covenant-keeping God. And certainly if we are to pray in faith for matters that we are concerned about, it is only as the promises have, as it were, taken lodgment in our spirits, not just passed before our eyes, but have taken up their lodging within us and we are unable to plead those promises before God. So then, the three great difficulties of prayer are in great measure met by means of meditation. And let me give you just one quote before we open up for discussion. An excellent quote from Manton on this whole subject. It is rashness to pray and not to meditate.

28:50 What we take in by the word, we digest by meditation, and we let out by prayer. That brings it all together. What we take in by the word, we digest by meditation, we let out by prayer. These three duties must be so ordered that one may not jostle out the other.

29:17 Men are barren, dry, and sapless in their prayers for lack of exercising themselves in holy thoughts. And then he mentions Psalm 45.1. My heart is indicting a good matter.

29:32 Then it follows, I will speak of the things which I have made touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. The heart yieldeth matter to the tongue. The word signifieth, boileth, and fryeth.

29:45 A word from Minka, their meat offering, the oil and the flour was to be kneaded together, then fried in a pan, and then offered to the Lord. Implying we must not come to the Lord with raw dough-baked offerings till we have concocted and prepared them by mature deliberation. It is notable that often in scripture prayer is called by the name of meditation because it is the product and issue of it, as Psalm 5 verse 1. And he quotes the verse that we've read.

30:15 Here the psalmist implies that his prayer was but the expression of his deliberate and premeditated thoughts. Prayer is the vent of the thoughts. And of course meditation is the inlet to that vent. Is the inlet, I'm sorry, to the thoughts which are then vented in prayer.

30:35 Now I trust this has been clear, it's nothing profound. But most of our problems in the Christian life do not come for lack of understanding some profound truth. They come for lack of obedience to what is quite obvious and quite simple. And we have need to be reminded of the first principles of the oracles of God.

Discussion: Meditation and Unceasing Prayer

30:56 And so the fifth and great function of meditation, as I understand it presently in our study of it together, is that it provokes and gives direction to biblical prayer. All right, questions? Things you'd like to add to what we thus covered? Yes.

31:15 Well, when the Lord says, pray without ceasing, then it really ties in with the fact, even though we may have jobs that keep our minds from thinking of this one to pray for and that one to pray for, then basically if our mind is on the word of God throughout the day, that will lead to the jackal's right prayer, not particularly based on praying for this one or that, but on meditation, then it makes sense. Yes, otherwise you'd have a conflict of duties. The righteous man is described as the one who meditates day and night, and yet he's called upon to pray. So pray without ceasing.

31:48 Well, how can I do two things at the same time unless they are intimately related? And they are, and that's a good point to be made. They are intimately related. So the heart and mind that meditates in the word will be the heart and mind that is continually lifted up to God in prayer.

32:03 For instance, let's take an example. Suppose you read in your morning reading, maybe in the Gospels, and you had in that particular portion an example of our Lord. When you saw the multitudes, you were moved with compassion. And as you meditated upon that, the compassion of Christ for lost sinners, your heart was moved to praise that He was moved, beholding you in your need.

32:29 Then seeing Him as your great example, you were led to pray, Lord, make me like that. And then as you go out into the world, onto the bus to drive into the city, or downtown to pick up the groceries, and you see people, and immediately you're conscious of an incongruity between you and your Lord. He was moved. I'm not moved.

32:46 What happens? As that word is there being percolate, percolating in the mind, you'll find yourself lifting up your heart to God, saying, Lord, make me more like Your Son. Help me to see people as sheep without a shepherd. Help me not to see them as just some inconveniences that make driving in the metropolitan area such a hectic thing.

33:05 Help me not to view them as peoples that simply jostle me as I move up and down the aisles of the supermarket. Help me to see them as you see them. So meditation will provoke prayer, you see. And we could just take any number of examples of the interrelatedness of those two things.

33:22 All right? Further contributions or questions on this whole basic area of the relationship to biblical prayer and the duty and privilege of meditation. Yes, Ralph?

Discussion: Flexibility in Bible Reading and Meditation

33:41 I have predetermined a certain set of passages to read to start at this with myself in my own personal reading. A thought will strike me and I'll stop. And there goes your whole time. And I wondered what we should do in light of that.

34:02 Whether we should stay there. And I know this was dealt with. But I think it's good to be dealt with now because we've taken up more material since then. And yeah, you get Ralph's question.

34:12 It's a very vital one. You're trying to have some systematic orderly progression through the scriptures. Maybe you've determined to read a chapter in the New Testament in the morning and a chapter in the old at night. All right.

34:24 You're coming. And in those three verses of that New Testament chapter, you really hook into something that's delicious or painful. But, you know, it's good pain. And the Lord begins to put the screws on you in a certain area.

34:36 Well, what are we to do? Say, excuse me, Lord, I got to hurry on and finish up the chapter. No, I think, again, if we keep in mind what our basic end in studying the scriptures is, it's to meet God, to know His will, to do His will. We can always, later on in the day or the next morning, catch up the rest of that chapter, which may yield very little sweetness to us this time through.

35:00 But that particular thing that really came home to our hearts is the Lord's word to us in that particular situation. And we just better not say, Lord, I'm sorry. Speak to me about that next time around, because I've got to read my chapter so that, you know, the next time the pastor preaches on systematic Bible reading, my conscience won't bother me. No, that's not the issue.

35:21 The issue is we want to meet God in His word. And I know exactly what you mean. Just this past week, I had that experience. And when I came to my reading for the next day, I just finished the paragraph or two of the chapter that I never did finish because there was something there that really began to zero in upon my own heart and spirit.

35:39 And if God says in a given part of the pasture, you lie down here and chew your cud a while, then He's the shepherd. We're not. And I think we just need to lie down and chew. All right.

35:51 And that's where, again, we come back to the principle that we're not in bondage to the program of Scripture reading that we've initiated. And that's what's wrong with anything that is so structured that it leaves no latitude for this type of holy digression or not digression so much as it is just what will we call it? Give me a word. No, I was using the analogy of you're going through the pasture and you stop for a while to ruminate.

36:22 It's not a digression as it is a holy, huh? Yeah, it's digestion. But I wanted the verb that had to do with our stop and it won't come. Oh, well, intermission.

36:34 That's it. That's a good one. A little intermission in our trip while we while we eat. All right. Very good.

36:41 Thank you for supplying the word. It wouldn't come. That's frustrating. It's like the carpenter can't find the right tool.

Discussion: Selfishness in Prayer and Intercession

36:50 All right. Further questions, aspects of this that you'd like to enlarge upon. Have I have I included what you have found to be the major difficulties of prayer? And I see here again.

37:02 This is where someone who's teaching must be so careful that he's not lopsided simply by projecting his own peculiar problems. But maybe you find that there's a fourth or a fifth major difficulty of prayer. If so, what is it? And then we can relate the scriptures to it.

37:17 Yes. Well, I think. Yes. Well, I think here again, that's why we have to come back to the scriptures.

37:52 Do the scriptures command me to pray for my own needs as well as for the needs of others? And I think the answer is very clearly yes. Only I can confess my sins to God. No one can confess for me.

38:04 Only I can acknowledge my weaknesses before God. No one else can do that for me. Only I can plead with God for greater degrees of likeness to Christ in the areas of my own particular weakness and my own particular sins. And we must recognize any indisposition to pray for our own particular needs as a means that the devil is trying to use to keep us from having those needs supplied.

38:29 Because you have not. Because you have not. And if I'm not asking for those personal needs that scripture demands of me, then the result will be I am bereft in my own life. And God will say to me, you have not because you ask not.

38:45 Now, some become totally selfish and their prayers never rise beyond themselves. Well, that's not biblical because our Lord has taught us in his own example and also in his own, his own parables. On the subject of prayer, Luke 11, Luke 18, then the teaching of the Apostle Paul, his own examples of prayer in Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, Colossians 1, Philippians 1, the great prayer of Epaphroditus, Colossians 4, 12. These wonderful examples of what we are to pray for.

39:19 They include intercession for others, pleading with God on behalf of the people of God. So I would just say that here's a good example again where we need to meditate upon those portions which direct us to pray for our own needs. And then whatever kind of hang-ups we have about not doing it, deal with them in the light of the word of God. But that's only because your thoughts are not governed by scripture at that point, you see.

39:59 And to think thoughts contrary to scripture is to be guilty of sin, sin of the thoughts. The Bible calls thoughts contrary to scripture vain thoughts. No matter how innocent they may appear and no matter how altruistic they may appear. If they keep us from obeying the scriptures, they're vain thoughts.

40:17 So here we come back again to Psalm 1. We meditate in the law of God day and night. All right. Yes, Jim.

40:25 And then Pete. I think this is going to go on to other areas. All of a sudden they come back again. I'm praying in another area.

40:43 I'm looking back at my own sinfulness and I'm beginning to grow more and more. And I believe it is in God. It's not in who I am fighting with now. Yes.

40:52 Yes. And then there's a sense, too, that and here again, when we come into the matter of prayer, you see how naturally meditation is moving into some of the problems of prayer and we're anticipating them. But there is a sense that there are times when we try to move from one prayer concern too quickly. We don't hang in there with it until we've really engaged God in that area of need.

41:16 And we've been able to do what Psalm 37 says, roll thy way upon the Lord. And there are times when you're trying to, but the thing just won't seem to go. It's a beautiful picture of a man with a thing on his back and he bends over and flops it at the feet of another. Well, there are times when the thing just won't flop.

41:32 I mean, it just seems to hang on there with some kind of spiritual epoxy. It just won't break loose. Well, then it's silly to try to move on to something else. Although there are other times when the best way to get rid of your own burden is get so engaged with others that the principle of our Lord's words enters in.

41:52 He that would save his life shall lose it, but he that would lose his life for my sake in the gospel is the same shall save it. That as I, as it were, say, all right, I'm going to forget this thing of mine and I'm going to engage myself in someone else's burden that's far greater than mine. Lo and behold, one of the wonderful side products is that in losing my own selfish interest by engaging God for another, my own burden is lifted. Say there's a particular sin that a Christian is struggling with and he knows someone else struggling with the same sin, if he begins to really give himself to prayer for a brother or sister who's struggling with that sin, he may find wonderful side effects in his own wrestling with that area of need.

Discussion: Structuring Prayer and Praying According to God's Will

42:35 Yes, Pete? I have many people to pray for in this situation. How do you meditate, you know, on each, do you meditate on each one, you know, during the day? Well, here again, Pete, we can't legislate.

42:58 I don't think God would have us before every petition to stop, to meditate on that situation. You see, there is the cumulative effect, the day-by-day addition to the whole inner disposition so that I can then, things that I had to consciously think about a year ago, now become a spiritual reflex, you see, they become almost automatic. For instance, you say, how should I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ? What should I ask God to do for them?

43:28 Should I ask God to give them more money in their jobs? Should I ask God to, you know, give them nicer clothes? Should I ask God to take them all to the mission field? I mean, what am I to pray for my fellow believers?

43:38 That's a big question, isn't it? Well, you see, you start by reading over the prayers that Paul prayed for believers. In this I pray, he says, that God may grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, et cetera, Ephesians 1. Or you turn to a passage like Colossians 4, 12, Epaphras, a fellow servant who laboreth fervently in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

44:05 Why, you see, the things that Paul prayed for was the spiritual illumination, or were the spiritual illumination of God's truth, that the saints of God would know the will of God, that they would walk pleasing to the Lord. Well, as you, and I would suggest you even do this, actually take those prayers and say, Lord, I don't know how to pray for your children, but here's an inspired prayer. Here's a prayer dictated by the Holy Ghost and inscribed in Scripture, and you pray that back. To God.

44:34 Well, what will happen as you do that over the weeks and months, that will become almost second nature to you. And you may not even be praying in the precise words of Scripture, but now your thoughts as to what you should ask God to do for your fellow believers are being molded by the word of God that has worked its way into your spiritual fiber. You see? And that's why I heartily recommend this matter of not separating, as a general rule, your prayer time in a hard-fast category and your meditating time.

45:06 Now, it's easy to do that with certain parts of intercession, where some of you may feel more at home keeping a prayer list or a book that you outline the things you're going to pray for. But a wonderful way to keep your prayer diversified and from getting into ruts is to just let the Scripture cut the channels for the things you're going to pray. Now, some psalms are full of the deep inner struggles of the believer, and you'll find yourself praying about your sins, and similar struggles. Some psalms are just full of praise.

45:35 They turn all the attention away from yourself to God. Well, you see, over the course of weeks or months, there will be a balance in your prayer time. And you need not feel in bondage that if, on Monday, you didn't have five minutes confession, five minutes supplication, five minutes intercession, you're sinning. No.

45:53 There are some days when to spend a good bit of time in praise is spiritually, morally, psychologically, in any other word you want to use, impossible. And there are certain psalms that don't have an ounce of praise in them. They're nothing but groans. And there are times when you're in a groaning state.

46:11 And that's all you can do before the Lord. You see? Yes, Ed? Absolutely.

46:31 Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then we don't need to pray if it be thy will.

46:37 For instance, if I say, Lord, subdue this sin and that sin that dishonors you, and in that area make me more like your Son, I don't need to put at the end of that, if it be your will. Because God has revealed in His Word, it is His will. Whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk, even as He walked.

47:02 He gave us an example that we should follow His steps. There's three texts of Scripture that teach me I'm to be like Christ. Now, I pray, we as a church are praying about our problem of space. Now, can we come to God and say, Lord, you have clearly revealed, you must give us so much acreage, you must give us a building that will hold 400.

47:22 We don't have any such. So what we have to do is say, Lord, give us wisdom to know what to do. If it please you, give us greater facilities. You see the difference now?

47:33 In some things we have a clear revelation of God's will. In other things we don't. For instance, the Apostle Paul, when he had this affliction, recorded in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he had some kind of an affliction that made him physically weak. What it was, we don't know.

47:51 He says it was a messenger of Satan to buffet me, but it made him consciously weak so that Paul reasoned this way. As long as I have this weakness, I can't fulfill the will of God. Therefore, he says, three times I sought the Lord. And I don't think that means just three days in a row.

48:08 He said, Lord, heal me if it please you or take this from me. I think he's referring to probably three very concentrated seasons of seeking God's faith. Three days, possibly even with fasting. At the end of that time, God says, now, Paul, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

48:24 I didn't take your affliction away as you prayed. Didn't do it the first time. Didn't do it the second, didn't do it the third. Now I'm going to let you know why.

48:32 It's not because I'm indifferent to your need, but it's because I know that you are wrong in your reasoning. You say this affliction and my usefulness are contradictory. Unless the affliction goes, I can't be useful. He says, no, Paul, I know better.

48:50 If I remove that affliction, the tendency to pride in your heart will conquer you and cripple you as a servant of Christ. Therefore, to keep your nose to the dirt, to keep your face to the earth where it belongs. He says, because of the abundance of the revelations that God gave me, this was permitted to keep me consciously dependent and humble before my God. Therefore, he says, I will glory in my infirmity.

49:18 You see, there's a difference now. God nowhere says it is my will that all of my children be perfectly healthy all of their days here on earth until they go to heaven. If it were, no problem. But he does say, be ye holy.

49:30 So there's a difference. Does that answer the question? Yeah. Good.

Discussion: The Heart's Warmth and Realism in Prayer

49:36 Yes, Paul.

49:57 Amen. Yeah, this is the very thing we're mentioning, Paul. So that if you were going through the hundred and third psalm, like as a father pitieth his children, you think upon that. Well, then you praise him, Lord, you pity me.

50:15 You know my frame. If you pity me and know my frame, then does it matter what men think? You know me, you pity me. And, you know, the consolation of that and to thank him.

50:24 Then further on, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed my transgressions. Then picture yourself trying to run east to catch west. At what point do you catch it? Well, you can't. It's ever before you.

50:36 Well, that's how he's removed my sins from me. And even the infinite majesty can never track them down because he's blotted them out, put them behind his back and let that provide fuel then for praise and gratitude to God. Yes, that's the very point we're emphasizing, Paul. Thank you for sharing that with us.

50:53 Then, as Paul says, if you plan a particular season then of intercession, your own heart has been made warm. Refreshed in its relationship to God so that you're not just going through some kind of an evangelical rosary. You know, none of us would think of bringing a little string of beads into our place of prayer. And, you know, Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed be the fruit of thy womb, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

51:15 But, you know, we can do the same thing with a prayer list, whether it's written or mental. We get through so many names and so many things. And then when we're done, like the Catholic who then goes away saying, I've done it for the day. See, I said my morning rosary.

51:28 I feel good now. My conscience will leave me alone. We can do the same thing, fall into the same trap, you see, of feeling, well, I've said my prayers. Well, that's not the issue.

51:39 The issue is, have you engaged God in your praying? Someone asked George Miller, how long do you pray? He says, I pray till I've prayed. I pray till I've prayed.

51:50 Now, the advantage George Miller had is he didn't have to catch the 805 and go into his office. And that's where we must be careful of making men who had special spheres of ministry a pattern for the ordinary believer. I believe many a Christian has been wrongly tortured in his conscience. And I fight that thing with a holy vengeance.

52:10 So when I quote that saying of George Miller, I quote it in the context of realizing he could pray until he prayed because he didn't have to punch in at 8 o'clock in the morning. But the principle is there. The principle is that I'm not satisfied unless I know that I've engaged God in my time alone with him. That I've met him in his word and in the place of prayer.

52:33 And as Mrs. Martin and I were talking just this past week, there are mysteries. Inexplainable or unexplainable dimensions of the Christian life. Why is it?

52:43 For no known reason to you, there are some mornings you aren't on your knees for three minutes. When the sense of God's presence, the awareness of his love and mercy and grace is so overwhelming, you just want to say, let's build a tabernacle and stay here. There are other times. And that's when time just goes so quickly and you say, oh boy, my time is gone.

53:05 There are other times when every five minutes seems like an hour. And you inwardly say, will this time ever end? Now, how do you explain that? Except that there are dimensions in this whole matter of our dealings with God that you just can't put in a test tube and line up so perfectly that we all become little wooden soldiers and go through our paces every day.

53:29 And so you ought to realize that. Usually, devotional books won't tell you this. They ought to. This is the realism of walking with God.

53:37 There are those dry days. There are those dull days. And thank God there are those glory days. And Newton knew about that when he wrote, Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings.

53:48 It is the Lord who rises with healing in his wings. God gives us wonderful surprises. Well, our time is just about gone. We have one more question.

Discussion: Consolation for Limited Prayer Time

53:56 Yes.

54:27 Just having the kids here, you just can't meditate on that word. Yes. You know, and then I find my old prayer at times. Yes.

54:41 And, of course, the words are precious. You want to pray about those things that you've read. And then you might be done. Well, Evelyn, one of your great consolations should be the principle that Paul enunciates when dealing with the matter of giving, where he says that God reckons that a man hath, not that he hath not.

55:02 And God sees. You have only the ten minutes to invest, and it's invested with delight and with longing that it were more. God sees that. God reads that.

55:13 For he's framed that very longing in the heart. You see? And that's where you take consolation. He knows my frame.

55:18 He's laid these duties upon me as a wife, as a mother. And, Lord, you know, I would love to be a Mary. But I've got to be a Mary in my spirit and a Martha in my activity. Because you've made me a mother.

55:33 And just accept me. Accept that and take comfort that God knows the heart. And not allow yourself to come under a spirit of guilt and bondage. Because then you're crippled for profit, even from the little time you do have, if you're laden down with this overwhelming guilt and the rest.

55:51 Okay? Well, let's commit our thoughts to the Lord in prayer, shall we?