Christian Life

The Basis of Prevalence in Prayer

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God 9 Comments

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. – James 5:16

Prayer is the shadow of the decrees of the Eternal. God has willed such a thing, and He makes His saints to will it, and express their will in prayer. It is written, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” It is not said that He will give the desire of his heart to every Jack and Tom; but you must first delight in the Lord, and when your mind finds all her joy in God then it is clear that God and you, as far as it can be, are standing on the same plane and moving in the same direction, and now you shall have the desire of your heart because the desire of your heart is the desire of God’s heart. Character, as much as faith, lies at the basis of prevalence in prayer. I do not mean in the case of the prayer of the sinner when he is seeking mercy, but I mean in the habitual prayers of the godly. There are some men who cannot pray so as to prevail, for sin has made them weak, and God walks contrary to them because they walk contrary to Him. He who has lost the light of God’s countenance has also lost much of the prevalence of his prayers. You do not suppose that every Israelite could have gone to the top of Carmel and opened the windows of heaven as Elijah did. No, he must first be Elijah, for it is the effectual, fervent prayer, not of every man, but of a righteous man, that availeth much; and when the Lord has put your heart and my heart into an agreement with Him then we shall pray and prevail. What did our Lord say, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

Are We Like a Naughty Child?

Sherry Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. – James 4:3

To refuse to praise unless we have our own way is great presumption, and shows that like a naughty child we will sulk if we cannot be master. I might illustrate the willfulness of many a supplication by that of a little boy who was very diligent in saying his prayers, but was at the same time disobedient, ill-tempered, and the pest of the house. His mother told him that she thought it was mere hypocrisy for him to pretend to pray. He replied, “No, mother, indeed it is not, for I pray God to lead you and father to like my ways better than you do.” Numbers of people want the Lord to like their ways better, but they do not intend to follow the ways of the Lord. Their minds are contrary to God and will not submit to His will, and therefore there is no thanksgiving in them. Praise in a prayer is indicative of an humble, submissive, obedient spirit, and when it is absent we may suspect willfulness and self-seeking. Very much of the prayer of rebellious hearts is the mere growling of an angry obstinacy, the whine of an ungratified self-conceit. God must do this and He must do that, or else we will not love Him. What baby talk! What spoiled children such are! A little whipping will do them good.

This will not do; this quarreling with God is poor work! Resignation comes to the heart like an angel unawares, and when we entertain it our soul is comforted… “If Thou shouldest take all away, yet still will I bless Thy name, O Thou Most High.” This is acceptable prayer, because it is not soured by the leaven of self-will, but salted with thankfulness. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

Have You No Thanks to Bring?

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God, The Father 4 Comments

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort – 2 Corinthians 1:3

Are we to be always receiving and never to return thanks? Aristotle rightly observes: “A return is required to preserve friendship between two persons,” and as we have nothing else to give to God except gratitude, let us abound therein. If we have no fruit of the field, let us at least render to Him the fruit of our lips. Have you no thanks to bring? How, then, can you expect further favours? Does not liberality itself close its hand when ingratitude stands in the way? What, never a word of gratitude to Him from whom all blessings flow! Then may even the ungodly despise you. It would argue great selfishness if we did not combine praise with prayer. Can it be right to think only of ourselves, to pray for benefits and never honour our Benefactor?…What, no thought for God’s glory? No idea of magnifying His great and blessed name! God forbid that we should fall into a spirit so mean and narrow. Healthy praise and thanksgiving must be cultivated, because they prevent prayer from becoming overgrown with the mildew of selfishness.

Thanksgiving also prevents prayer from becoming an exhibition of the want of faith; for indeed some prayer is rather a manifestation of the absence of faith than the exercise of confidence in God. If when I am in trouble I still bless the Lord for all I suffer, therein my faith is seen. If before I obtain the mercy, I thank God for the grace which I have not yet tasted, therein my faith is manifest. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

Still He is So Good, So Supremely Good

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 10 Comments

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. – Habakkuk 3:17

Brethren, if the Lord does not answer the prayer which we are offering, yet still He is so good, so supremely good, that we will bless Him whether or no. We ought even to praise Him when He does not answer us, ay, and bless Him for refusing our desires. How devoutly might some of us thank Him that He did not answer our prayers when we sought for evil things in the ignorance of our childish minds. We asked for flesh, and He might have sent us quails in His anger, and while the flesh was yet in our mouths His wrath might have come upon us; but in love He would not hear us. Blessed be His name for closing His ear in pity! Let us adore Him when He keeps us waiting at His doors; thank Him for rebuffs, and bless Him for refusals…Ralph Erskine spoke the truth when he said:

“I’m heard when answered soon or late,
Yea, heard when I no answer get:
Yea, kindly answered when refused,
And treated well when harshly used.”

Faith glorifies the love of God, for she knows that the Lord’s roughest usage is only love in disguise…Though He slay us we will trust in Him, much more if He decline our requests. We ask Him for our daily bread, and if He withhold it we will praise Him. Our praises are not suspended upon His answers to our prayers. If the labour of the olive should fail, and the field should yield no fruit; if the flock should be cut off from the fold, and the herd from the stall, yet still would we rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation. Blessed Spirit, raise us to this state of grace and keep us there. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

Believe That Ye Have It

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 6 Comments

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. – Mark 11:24

When I was conversing lately with our dear friend George Miller, he frequently astonished me with the way in which he mentioned that he had for so many months and years asked for such and such a mercy, and praised the Lord for it. He praised the Lord for it as though he had actually obtained it. Even in praying for the conversion of a person, as soon as he had begun to intercede he began also to praise God for the conversion of that person. Though I think he told us he had in one instance already prayed for thirty years and the work was not yet done, yet all the while he had gone on thanking God, because he knew the prayer would be answered. He believed that he had his petition, and commenced to magnify the Giver of it. Is this unreasonable? How often do we antedate our gratitude among the sons of men! If you were to promise some poor person that you would pay his rent when it came due, he would thank you directly, though not a farthing had left your pocket. We have enough faith in our fellow-men to thank them beforehand, and surely we may do the same with our Lord. Shall we not be willing to trust God for a few months ahead, ay, and for years beforehand, if His wisdom bids us wait. This is the way to win with Him. When ye pray, believe that ye receive the boons ye ask, and ye shall have them. “Believe that ye have it,” says the Scripture, “and ye shall have it.” As a man’s note of hand stands for the money, so let God’s promise be accounted as the performance. Shall not heaven’s bank-notes pass as cash? Yea, verily, they shall have unquestioned currency among believers. We will bless the Lord for giving us what we have sought, since our having it is a matter of absolute certainty. We shall never thank God by faith and then find that we were befooled. He has said, “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” And therefore we may rest assured that the thanksgiving of faith shall never bring shame into the face of the man who offers it.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

Thou Wilt Not Send Me Away Empty

Sherry Christian Life 4 Comments

But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19

Beloved, whenever we are on our knees in prayer, it becomes us to bless God that prayer has been answered so many times before. Here Thy poor petitioner bends before Thee to ask again, but ere he asks he thanks Thee for having heard him so many times before. I know that Thou hearest me always, therefore do I continue still to cry to Thee. My thanksgivings urge me to make fresh petitions, encouraging me in the full confidence that Thou wilt not send me away empty. Why, many of the mercies which you possess today, and rejoice in, are answers to prayer. They are dear to you because, like Samuel, whom his mother so named because he was “asked of God,” they came to you as answers to your supplications. When mercies come in answer to prayer they have a double delight about them, not only because they are good in themselves, but because they are certificates of our favour with the Lord. Well, then, as God has heard us so often and we have the proofs of His hearing, should we ever pray with murmurings and complainings? Should we not rather feel an intense delight when we approach the throne of grace, a rapture awakened by sunny memories of the past?~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm

A Royal Way of Praying

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God 10 Comments

And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9

When we come before God in the hour of trouble, remembering His great goodness to us in the past, and therefore thanking Him, we ought to have faith enough to believe that the present trouble, about which we are praying, is sent in love. You will win with God in prayer if you can look at your trials in this light:-“Lord, I have this thorn in the flesh. I beseech Thee, deliver me from it, but meanwhile I bless Thee for it; for though I do not understand the why or the wherefore of it, I am persuaded there is love within it; therefore, while I ask Thee to remove it, so far as it seemeth evil to me, yet wherein it may to Thy better knowledge work my good, I bless Thee for it, and I am content to endure it so long as Thou seest fit.” Is not that a sweet way of praying? “Lord, I am in want, be pleased to supply me; but, meanwhile, if Thou do not, I believe it is better for me to be in need, and so I praise Thee for my necessity while I ask Thee to supply it. I glory in mine infirmity, even while I ask Thee to overcome it. I triumph before Thee in my affliction, and bless Thee for it even while I ask Thee to help me in it and to rescue me out of it.” This is a royal way of praying: such an amalgam of prayer and thanksgiving is more precious than the gold of Ophir.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm