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accounted worthy to escape all these
things t hat shall come to pass. . . "
(Luke 21 :36). Clearly, He meant for
us to "watch" the fulfillment of
prophecy in world events- and in
this way to be stimulated and in–
spired to pray earnestly to the real
God who
ac~ivel y
intervenes in hu–
man affairs.
The Example of Elijah
Your Bible says in James 5:16-18:
"The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much. Elias
[Eiijah) was a man subject to like
passions as we are, and he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain: and
it rained not on the earth by the
space of t hree years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven
gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit. "
Weak and human even as we are,
Elijah prayed fervently. He knew
God was there. He knew God an–
swered prayer. So he got "stirred
up." He put his whole being into his
prayer. And God answered.
I n our modern technologically
oriented, war-calloused, intellectual–
ly vain and psychologized age above
all others, we need to seek God with
all our hearts! We must prove and
know that the personal God of Abra–
ham does hear and answer prayer.
Revealing His attitude toward our
prayers, God speaks of His people Is–
rael in Hosea 7:14: "T hough it was 1
who redeemed them, they have lied
to me; they never put their heart into
their prayers" [Moffatt translation).
Once you have absolutely proved
the true God's existence and active
power- and the Bible as His direct
revelation to man- a second vital
key to prayer is to fervently seek
God with your whole being- and to
put your whole heart into your
prayers!
Vital Steps t o Take
Simple but very importan! steps are
prereq uisite to this. Notice J esus
Christ's instruction on prayer in
Matthew 6:5-13.
First, as He taught in verse 5,
don't pray to be seen of men-or get
the idea tha t public or family prayer
is enough. J esus always emphasized
prívate prayer.
The
PLAIN TAUTH February 1979
Second, do not employ standard,.
repetitious or memorized prayers
(verse 7).
lf
you are seeking God
with your whole being, you won ' t feel
the need to repeat or chant sorne
mumbo jumbo. You will want to talk
to God personally, intelligently and
sincerely.
Third, do make provision both for
a time and a private place for person–
al , earnest, fervent and prevailing
prayer (verse 6) : "But thou, when
thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in se–
cret. .. . "
An additional example of how to
apply this is given in Mark 1:35:
"And in the morning, rising up a
great while before day, he went out,
~~
God has created man. fn
His own image. He wants
men to draw close to
Him, to imbibe of His
character, to become His
sons. The God of the
Bible delights in the
prayer of the righteous.
,,
and departed into a solitary place,
and there prayed. " Here Jesus set the
inspired example of spending the
first part of His day in prayer- be–
fore anything else could interrupt!
All of us need to set aside specific
times for prayer- and early in the
morning should definitely be one of
these times! Also, we see by the
above example that Jesus went out to
a prívate place for prayer. He was
a lone-where He could literally cry
out to God with His whole being.
This is a vital step.
Now let us return to J esus' instruc–
tion in Matthew 6:9-13 . Notice that
Jesus Himself did not call this the
" Lord's Prayer," as men have done,
or in any manner encourage His dis–
ciples to memorize this particular
prayer and repeat it over and over.
He had just forbidden them to do
that with other prayers in verse 7.
Rather, Jesus said: "After this
manner therefore pray ye... . "
Jesus was not setting down the ex–
act words wé should repeat over and
over, but outlining the correct ap–
proach to God in prayer and the ba–
sic things for which we should pray.
In that light , then, Jet us notice this
inspired approach to prayer as re–
vealed by Christ.
Jesus' lnspired Prayer Outline
"Our Father which art in heav–
en... . " Jesus carne to reveal God as
the Father. For we a re to feel a deep,
deep sense of personallove and close–
ness with the God who broug,ht us into
being, who gives us every good and
every perfect gift, who protects, pro–
vides for and guides us as we yield to
His will- and who intervenes super–
naturally ifwecryout to Him for help.
1' 11 always remember my dad play–
ing with me, loving me, teaching
me- yes, and spanking me- as l
grew up to manhood. Once, when 1
thought 1 was going to drown, my
dad- who had been a champion
swimmer in college-churned might–
ily through the water after me like
Tarzan!
As a little boy, coming back from
fami ly outings or camping trips, l re–
member my dad picking me up gent–
ly out of the car after 1 had fallen
asleep on the long drive home and
murmuring to me encouragingly as 1
whimpered in a half-wakened condi–
tion, then carrying me into the house
and putting me gently into bed. 1 can
remember him comforting me when l
was sick. And · teaching, exhorting
and correcting me when 1 was well.
This true exemplification of · the
love and compassion of a father is
multiplied an infinite number of
times in the real living God- who
trul y is "our Father" to those who
know and serve Him!
Our deep respect and awe for our
heavenly Father should be total- for
He is not affected by the human
weaknesses and mistakes with which
all our earthly fathers have been en–
cumbered.
We must cometo God, as "our Fa–
ther." We must talk with Him, fel–
lowship with Him- show our appre-
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