Whispers to God

If God’s people would please
take their Bibles, please turn to the book of James to chapter
five, James chapter five. One of the many sentiments in
scripture. That is sure to get the heartiest
amen to which there is Almost across
the board, no argument against is Paul’s very brief statement
in Romans 826. We do not know how to pray. Paul certainly wasn’t suggesting
that a believer’s efforts are in vain, even the simplest efforts
uttered up in God’s direction. He wasn’t suggesting that believers
are completely and utterly ignorant on the subject of prayer. We
know what it is. We know to whom we are to pray.
Hopefully, we know that the nature of what we’re doing, that it
is in essence communication, communication to God. We certainly know the need to
cry out to God. We feel the inclination. We know
that there’s a God. We know that we need help. We
know how desperate our condition is. We know the need to cry out to
God, whether we’re on our knees or not. We know we need to cry
out to God, whether quietly or audibly. We know that we need
to cry out to God, whether we’re all alone or whether in a group
of people. Whether we have our eyes closed
or wide open, we know that we need to pray. Paul wasn’t referring. To the particulars of prayer. Whether we’re on our knees or
whether we’re praying in a group. Paul was Paul was referring here
to the very specific situation, to the particulars of the aim,
the intent, the purpose of our prayer. We don’t have prayer
figured out. How should we pray in a particular
situation? How would God have us to pray? What is appropriate in this given
situation? Paul says, we don’t have a clue.
We don’t know how. We know what prayer is. We know
to whom we’re praying. But there are times where we
hit various situations and the words fail us. We don’t even
know how to form the simple words in our mouth. We do not know
how to pray. Paul certainly would acknowledge
that believers know the basics that there should be peace in
our hearts. There should be peace and a right
relationship with God himself. Those are the prayers that God
hears. We should know that we should
also know that we have to have peace with one another. That
in order for God to hear our prayers, we must be at peace
with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We know. That there should be a deep detestation
for sin and for its deadly effects in our lives. And that when we
enter into God’s holy presence, one of the first and most natural
responses is that of confession. Lord, I know I blew it just now. Lord, I bring that before you.
I acknowledge it to you. Please forgive that. And then
we proceed. There should be in the heart
of every Christian a heart of gratitude for all of God’s abundant
blessings. How can we come into his presence
and not? Acknowledge him for who he is.
And express gratitude for all that he’s done. There should
be a heart of forgiveness. There should be a general and
growing knowledge of who God is. Our prayers today should
be better prayers, objectively better prayers than they were
10 years ago. We should be learning how to
pray because we should be learning about God, who he is and how
he functions. What is he like? There should be in our prayers,
in our hearts, as we go to prayer, an evangelical spirit. We should
have a genuine concern for those who do not know Christ. There
should be a firmness and a constancy in the midst of our trials. We
should know that there’s a God who cares. There should be also in our prayer
That one another care. That love for one another that
Paul speaks about in Romans 12. A care that weeps with those
who weep. All of those things Paul would
recognize as foundational for believers. And yet, Paul, when
he alludes to the fact that we do not know how to pray, He points to the fact that there
are times when we bow our heads to pray and a bewilderment falls
over us because we’re in a particular situation, a circumstance that
we’ve never been in, particulars that we’ve never faced. And in
those very special situations, we do not know how to pray. We
do not know how God would have us to pray. Sometimes we can
hear this in our prayers. Lord, we pray for so and so. Pray what? Saying that we pray is really
not much of a prayer. For what do we pray? Lord, we
lift up so and so in their sickness. Is that supposed to help them? For what do we pray? How do we
pray? What does that particular prayer
that we lift them up, what does that do for them? What have we
asked of God? Before we open our mouth, we
should know for what we are prepared to ask of Almighty God. Can God
honor this particular prayer? Will He? Would He? Is it in line with His will?
Does it express the sentiment of His own heart? The reality
is that often as soon as we begin to pray, we stammer and we pause
because in this particular situation, we cannot seem to match our appeal
with the circumstance. One pastor said it well when
he said, because of our imperfect perspectives, we can’t see it
all. We don’t know it all. Because
of our imperfect perspectives, finite minds, human frailties,
and spiritual limitations, we are not able to pray in absolute
consistency with God’s will. We do not know how to pray. Many
times, we are not even aware that a spiritual need exists,
much less know best how those needs should be met. Even the
Christian who prays sincerely, faithfully, and regularly cannot
possibly know God’s purposes concerning all of his own needs
and the needs of others for whom he prays. And so sometimes it’s
because we just have such a limited view. We don’t know what our
brother’s going through. And if we do, we don’t really
know how exactly to pray, to pray for him. Remember the so-called
Lord’s Prayer? I refer to it as the disciples
prayer because Jesus is using it to teach his disciples how
to pray. The Christian by nature longs
to communicate with his or her God, but we just seem to hit
the wall at times, don’t we? James 2. Knows that sentiment
that Paul identified. And while the New Testament offers
many different examples, most notably Christ in prayer, and
though it offers many didactic sections of scripture that teach
us how to pray. James clearly. Would say yay
and amen to Paul’s statement. We do not know how to pray because
that is the very purpose of the passage before us today. The
good news is James, really God by way of James offers us help
on how to pray. One pastor introduced this passage
with these few short words. He says, for every tone of feeling
that can ever rightly occupy the heart. In any condition which
providence may place us, true religion has fitting modes of
expression. Honoring to God and helpful to
ourselves and to our brother brethren. In other words, he
says, this is how to pray. If God’s people would. James,
chapter five, beginning in verses 13. All the way through 18. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith
will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore
confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that
you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous
man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature
like ours and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it
did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. And
he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its
fruit. This is God using James in his
effort to teach us how to pray And while there are many questions
in particulars, some that baffle even the best commentators, this
passage of scripture, verses 13 through 18, is about prayer. It’s all about prayer. I want
you to notice something. In every single verse, the word
prayer is utilized at least once. Sometimes different Greek words
are translated, but look at the passage. Verse 15, let him pray. Verse 14, let them pray. Verse 15, and the prayer offered
in faith will restore the one who is sick. Verse 16, confess
your sins to one another and pray for one another. Again, in verse 16, the effective
prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Verse 17, Elijah
prayed. Verse 18, he prayed again. In every single verse, the subject of prayer is brought
to the surface. I want to take us on a tour,
if we will, for the next several weeks. What I refer to as whispers
to God. Various shapes that prayer will
take various means of praying. And from this, we will glean
a better understanding of how to pray. As we begin in the next
couple of weeks, we’ll look at four particular shapes that prayer
will take. The prayer may take depending
on the situation, depending on the need. The first of which
that I want to call your attention to is in verses 13 and 14. It’s what I would call circumstantial
prayer. James brings up different circumstances
and equally as quickly applies a different mode of prayer to
that circumstance. Verse 13, the first one, is anyone
among you suffering? We’ll talk more about this in
a moment, but let him pray. A very general word for prayer,
also used throughout this passage. But then he brings a second circumstance,
a second situation, completely different than the first. No,
the suffering has abated and now James is addressing the completely
opposite, opposite end of the spectrum. Is anyone cheerful? Well, then the mode to be used,
the mode to whisper to God or to shout from the mountaintop
is no longer just a quiet prayer to yourself, but it is an audible
praise. It’s a song to God. It’s a prayer.
that takes the form of a song. And then our third circumstance,
one that we all know very well, especially in the last few weeks,
is anyone among you sick? And I take it to mean, we’ll
get back to this passage a little bit today and then take it up
next week. I take this to mean this is a
substantial sickness. This isn’t the common cold. This
is serious sickness. Call the elders. And so there are various circumstances
addressed here, but this bleeds right into another means of prayer,
another shape that prayer takes, and that is intercessory prayer.
It’s introduced in verse 14, but intercessory prayer is carried
all the way through verse 16. In verse 14, we are to call for
the elders of the church and they come and they pray over
the sick person. Because it’s true, there are
times where we feel so badly. We’re so wiped out by some sickness
or disease. That we can’t even articulate
our prayer and others come alongside and they pray for us. And aren’t
we thankful for that? Look also at verse 15. This prayer is an effective prayer. It restores the one who’s sick.
The Lord raises him up. We even have the ability to go
before God and to carry them in their sinfulness before God.
There has to be a heart of confession on the part of the one being
prayed for, but he is being borne up before God. Completely. Look at verse 16. Even this admonition
that frightens everyone, confess your sins to one another. There is cause at times where
we are to lean on our brothers and sisters in Christ in the
most delicate, the most intimate way that we can, and that is
To confess our sin, to acknowledge how we’ve blown it. And to allow
them to come and to pray for us. Intercessory prayer. But there’s a third kind of prayer,
a third way that prayer takes shape. And we’ve already alluded
to it, it’s confessional prayer. We are to come before God and
to confess our sins to God. We are to come before him and
own what we’ve done. We don’t inform him ever. We
don’t inform God what we’ve done. God sees it all. God knows it
all. God knows the situation. God
knows when our heart fell in each and every circumstance.
We don’t inform him, but we do acknowledge it. We do confess
it to God. And then finally, the fourth
that we’ll look at through this incredible section is what I
would call faithful prayer. There’s circumstantial prayer,
intercessory prayer, confessional prayer and faithful prayer. It’s
enduring prayer. It’s perseverant prayer. It’s
prayer that does not, will not let go. It’s introduced in verse
15. It’s the prayer offered in faith.
We knew what to pray for and we went before God and we laid
it before him and we pleaded our case once. It’s a prayer offered in faith
because it’s a heart convinced that this is what God would have
us to pray in this situation. and we bring it earnestly before
God, we plead with God, we lay it before him and we will not
let it go. That faithful prayer is the kind
of prayer that does restore the sick, that will raise up the
sufferer for whom his sin will be forgiven. It’s faithful prayer. Look at verse 16. Confess your
sin, pray for one another. Why? So that you may be healed. There is a specific request to
this prayer. And it’s faithfully offered up
before almighty God. And the whole section closes
out with arguably one of the most faithful prayers in all
of scripture. But the unique thing about this
passage is it says that Elijah was really no big deal. No different than you and I.
He was a man with a like nature to us, just like us. But he saw a prayer for what
it was. And he didn’t just bow his head and say, God bless all
the missionaries in the whole wide world. Amen. He went to
the throne of grace with a specific appeal, and he prayed and he
waited and he demanded on God. He pleaded with God. And God answered. We’ll come
back to those, but I want to begin today with the first whisper,
the first means of prayer to God, the first shape that prayer
takes is circumstantial prayer. In the first circumstance that
we consider, the first one that James brings to our attention,
it urges us to prayer quite possibly because it is the most common.
Trouble. Trial. Affliction. Look at verse 13. I mean, I don’t take the book of James,
I don’t take scripture to be comedy, a joke book, but there has to be almost a
wry smile to this. When James says, is any among
you suffering? Yeah, like how many of us are
suffering? And how many different ways are
we suffering? James says that if any among
you are suffering, there is a means of prayer. There is a way to
pray. The end of this great epistle,
James basically circles back exactly to where he began. He began with a discussion of
trials, and now he circles back to the same exact subject, trials,
suffering, affliction. And he warned us at first that
we’re not supposed to grumble like the world does, give in,
give up. It’s no surprise. I almost chuckled
myself when I read this commentary. The Christian does not always
live on a mountaintop of faith. Yeah, do you think? In fact,
in most cases, we’re down in the valley, in the aftermath of an avalanche, and the rains have set in, and
now there’s a flood on top of the avalanche debris. And when that clears, there will
be a fire, just like what happens in our mountains. And the whole
process starts all over again. We’re in the valley, usually.
We’re in the valley of suffering most often, not on a mountaintop
of faith. Sometimes we feel, personally,
as if we’re never gonna have the experience of getting to the top of a 14er. The word is a fascinating word
and used amazingly in scripture. Kekopathia. Kekopathia, you’ve
heard it before in many different occasions, it’s just bad. It’s
just bad stuff. But here it’s bad feeling. You
have a bad and it’s not just that you feel bad. Bad stuff
has happened. And now you feel badly. Paul used it, ironically, to
encourage young Timothy. Second, Timothy two, three, suffer
hardship. With me is a good soldier of
Christ. Take up your weapon, Timothy.
Man up, suffer hardship. Paul, never one to ask anybody
to do anything that he hadn’t done first, says that he suffered
hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal. And he rounds out that same epistle
with a third admonition. But you, Timothy, be sober in
all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry. Suffering, hardship, difficulty
is going to be part of your ministry, Timothy. Suffering and difficulty
and hardship, afflictions, trials, trouble is part of our Christian
life. We’re going to be called to endure
hardship. James had just utilized this
same word in chapter 5, verse 10. He called us to look on the
example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. After
all, they were his servants and they suffered. Whether it’s from our own foolish
choices or the sinful behavior of the world, we are going to
suffer. We are going to have difficulty
and hardship in this life. And I want you to know that this
word is very general. When he talks about feeling bad,
it’s very broad. And it could capture all kinds
of sentiments from all kinds of causes, not necessarily just
physical suffering. It’s every type of calamity,
every type of difficulty that a believer can come to, physical
or spiritual or financial or personal or mental. And that’s
why we have to smile. When James says, is any of you,
anybody here suffering? Which of us couldn’t identify
at least two or three of those particular ways of suffering
and say, yes, James, as a matter of fact, I am. It’s trouble. It’s experiencing what is bad,
said one, to suffer misfortune, endure hardship, Including persecution. Including
those external difficulties that Job faced. Including being slandered
by someone. All of those things come into
play. And all of those are external misfortunes. And we have a tendency
to see those as outside of God’s will. But they’re not. But James just says so simply,
I mean, the sentence is essentially laid out so simply before you. Pray. Let him pray. That’s the great means. That’s the great means of this
particular situation. And in this particular situation,
we’re not going to know exactly how to pray in every particular.
We can pray to be released. We can pray to be encouraged.
We can pray to be strengthened. There are all kinds of ways to
pray for the situation. And there is no promise that
there will be relief necessarily. But we can ask. We can go before
God and in time God begins to shape and form our prayer. We are to pray. Paul says essentially the same
thing in Ephesians 6, using the same words. With all prayer and
petition, pray at all times in the spirit. We’re supposed to
pray. We’re supposed to engage in battle
by falling on our knees in the quietness of our homes or our
rooms, whether you’re sitting, whether you have your eyes closed,
whether a brother or not is beside you, we’re to go before God in
prayer. It’s just that simple. And it’s
all kinds of prayer. It’s a passionate prayer. that
lays hold of God and lays out your situation and pleads with
him in tears. There’s also the quiet and trusting
prayer that knows that God’s will, knows that God’s will is
sovereign. Knows that God will see you through
this trial and trouble. So you pray to him trustingly
and in faith. This is the common, very common
biblical word for prayer, dozens of uses in the New Testament. One described it as the fruit
of devotion and a token of homage. This is us taking hold of the
privilege that God himself has restored to us, extended to us,
Because we are his children. It’s as if he says, I tell you
what, now that you have placed your faith in Christ, I’m going
to give you a very special privilege. Very special. I’m going to let
you come into my throne room anytime you want. Let’s call
it the throne of grace. And I’m going to let you come
into my very throne room, the throne of grace, any time you
want for any need that you have. And just pray, just ask. Certainly this. Word. Would encompass all of those
elements. We remembered it several years
ago. You probably heard this in many
different circles, ACTS. What an easy formula to walk
us through our prayer. Adoration, A. We come before
God and we acknowledge who he is and how great he is. And we
even speak of his attributes. That’s what the psalmist do.
We talk about how powerful he is. How gracious and merciful
he is. We talk about all of those attributes,
but we address him. In his being, we adore him. We
thank God for who he is. And as soon as we begin to articulate
that, how can we not confess our sin? We feel crummy just
bowing before him, we feel unwanted, we’re not. We feel uninvited,
we’re not. God wants us to come. Because
he knows that as soon as we come into his presence. We can’t come
in with all this baggage, we can’t come in with those sinful
attitudes, we can’t come in having said what we said to our wife.
Or having done what we did. Or thought what we thought or
watched what we watched, we can’t come in with that. We know that. And we confess. And then we just begin. In this
course of general prayer, we begin not only adoring God and
confessing to God, but thanking God, thanking God for all that
he’s done, thanking God for the great means of access to him,
thanking God for the salvation that we possess, not because
of our efforts, but purely because of Christ. We thank him for all
of the blessings of life. We thank him even for the trial
that has brought us to our knees. We thank him. And then. And may I say only then. After
we have adored him, after we have confessed our sin to him,
after we thanked him for things for which we’ve already prayed.
and asked, then we come before him in supplication, then before
we then we come before him and we ask anew. Then we come before
him and we fall on our knees and we plead with him for a specific
prayer request. Not just. God, we lift him up
before you. One pastor described it this
way. James directs the sufferer to
make it a practice. To turn to God whenever he is
in distress. Instead of indulging in introspective
self-pity, let him turn to God for refuge and strength. His
prayer may not change the situation, but it can give strength to bear
it bravely. As he submits himself to divine
providence, in other words, he says that the believer through
that process of prayer is submitting himself more and more. To God’s
sovereignty in that particular situation. We pray for patience. We pray
for steadfastness. We pray for hope. We pray for
resolution. We pray for peace. Peter says
we cast all our anxiety on him because he cares. We know who
he is. We reminded ourselves when we
began our prayer with adoration. We know that he doesn’t want
us to be anxious. Paul said it in Philippians,
anxious for nothing. Nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request
be made known to God. We bring it before him. We pray. Patiently in the midst of these
trials, in the midst of this suffering, we pray. I think it’s
noteworthy to say There are prayer burdens that
are yours. I’m not supposed to be on a list. I’m not supposed
to be on a prayer chain. They’re your prayer burden. I think too often we’re too eager
to push them off onto other people. Oh, pray for me. Nothing wrong
with asking a brother to pray for you. Have you prayed earnestly,
fervently, passionately? I think a great measure of our prayers are our burdens. We know our situation. We know
the particulars. And in this particular, if any
of you is suffering, he says, pray, you pray. One faithful pastor. put it this
way, the Christian recognizing his affliction as fatherly chastisement,
inflicted by the God who is love and who, because of his love,
chastens his children that they may be made more childlike will
always feel, if his faith be intelligent and vigorous, that
nothing is so becoming and needful under trial as earnest wrestling
with his heavenly Father in prayer. He will ask for comfort, for
wisdom, for deliverance. There’s nothing wrong with asking,
but it’s the process of wrestling with the God who knows him, the
God of love. There’s a second circumstance
here that James outlines. Not only those who are suffering, but I think he takes this secondly,
and I would even add it’s a distant second to those who experience
suffering. Occasionally, when all goes well,
And there isn’t anybody there to criticize or mess it up. We
happen to notice a cheerful sentiment in our heart. It’s a much less
common sentiment, and so James takes us from one extreme to
the other. Is anyone among you suffering?
Let him pray. If anyone is cheerful. Anybody. That’s almost how it
comes off. Is anyone cheerful? what we ought
to be, let him sing praises. He brings in a contrast here.
It’s the opposite extreme. You have one that is so burdened
and torn that the first inclination of his heart and mind is just
to tough it out on his own, to give up and give in. He’s suffering. But on the opposite end of the
spectrum is one who is just giddy, happy, joyful. And just as surely he has no
idea what to do with it. Doesn’t have a clue. It’s a complete contrast to the
situation that he lays out before us. And I believe what James
is doing here, he’s giving us a broad spectrum and saying,
surely you fall somewhere in between here Either between abject
suffering and joyful enthusiasm, surely you fit in somewhere.
It covers all of the spectrums of life, but here he touches
on joyfulness or cheerfulness. It isn’t just an arrogant, fluffy,
light, almost a foolish conduct through life. It’s cheerful,
joyful, upbeat. This is the saint that recognizes
that God is in control and in his control. He has guided me
into a gentle and pleasant. Field. I’m enjoying life right
now. And I’m thanking my God, I’m
cheerful. Word is actually used a number
of different times in concert with Paul’s own life in the midst
of literally his trials. Paul in Acts 2410, when the governor
had nodded for him to speak, Paul responded, knowing that
for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully
make my defense. Here’s Paul under arrest in Jerusalem,
being carted from one courtroom to another. And he is absolutely
thrilled with the opportunity to preach the gospel. But the word isn’t always translated
cheerful, and so in Acts chapter 27. Paul uses the same exact
word to urge his shipmates, who, by the way, were his captors.
To keep up your courage, be cheerful. Cheer up. I know it’s raining.
I know there’s rocks. I know it’s dark and you can’t see where
you’re going. Be cheerful. Be courageous. Same word. He uses it twice, three times
in that one little section alone. Where Paul, the prisoner, by
the way, is encouraging his captors to be courageous, to be cheerful. Hey, cheer up, friend. Not so
bad. Grab a plank of the ship that
just sank and let’s head for shore, shall we? Robert Johnstone said, in the
ages when Sarum… We hear this every week from
our brother, urging us, pleading us to respond to our cheerful
spirit appropriately. What’s appropriate? Robert Johnstone,
in the ages when ceremonialism began to stifle religion and
became so corrupted, there was no more striking symptom of the
change from life to death than the departure of congregational
praise. Did you hear what he said? Here, leading up to the Reformation,
When the word of God had been essentially and effectively taken
away from the people of God, there was no life. In the church,
no enthusiasm. It was only natural that there
was no praise. But he goes on. But when, at
the Reformation, through the mercies of God, the sun of righteousness
at last melted the frost of centuries, and the silver streams of the
water of life, so long sealed up and silent, began once more
to gush joyously over the world, then, along with their banks,
arose again the strains of Zion. Whenever spiritual life is found,
it expresses itself as all manifest revivals of religion distinctively
attest in hearty praise. Did you hear what he said? If there is life, if there is
God-given life in the breast of an individual, there is going
to be an eruption of praise. And I take that to be a song
of praise. He concludes with this, the words
of the apostle suggest that not merely in the sanctuary, but
at home, in the family circle, or in solitude, the singing of
God’s praise is pleasant and helpful for the soul. The tones
of sacred song are to the new man in Christ the most natural
of all utterances. Don’t tell me you don’t sing.
Don’t tell me you don’t have a good voice. God wants to hear
it. This is an echo of Colossians
316, isn’t it? Let the word of Christ richly
dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing. one
another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Do you realize that when
you sing in congregational worship, you’re not only singing to God,
you’re singing to one another? Do you know that you’re giving
a testimony to the unbelievers who are in the midst? Do you
know that you’re bullying the hearts of believers by your song? The word here literally Is Salado,
that’s the word from where we get our word Psalms. And it’s too limiting here to
limit it or restrict it. To say that we can only sing
the Psalms. But it’s the song of the believer’s
heart. That we are to. Let loose Paul
uses the same word in Romans 15 9. I will give praise to you
among the Gentiles. I will sing to your name 1st
Corinthians 14 likewise, I will pray with a spirit. I will pray
with a mind. I will sing with a spirit I will sing with the
mind also. I’m ready to sing Just tell me what number Ephesians 5.19 is an echo of
Colossians 3, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs. And I don’t take those passages
to refer to congregational worship necessarily or exclusively. This
is how we ought to interact with one another. There ought to be
a song in our hearts. There’s an example of responding
to praise to God with a song. And it happens at the most remarkable
juncture in the book of Acts. In Acts 4.24, they had been imprisoned,
right? They’re in the midst of persecution.
And it said they lifted up their voices to God with one accord.
They had a praise service right in the midst of their ugliness. Christ and his apostles sang.
I mean, if there was ever a time where we could cut these guys
a break, now look, they’re gonna go out. They’re gonna go out.
Jesus is gonna be arrested. They’re gonna be scattered. They’re
gonna put Jesus on this trial. Let’s cut the church service
a little short today. Let’s do away with the closing
praise song, shall we? Let’s get about to business. After singing a hymn, they went
out. It was the song of the redeemed.
It was the song of hope. It was the song of God’s children. Paul and Silas likewise saying,
Acts 16, 25. In prison, mind you, in the midst
of their trials, they were praying and singing hymns of praise to
God. Do you know that throughout scripture,
there are a number of examples of this, but there are lyrics
to little basic songs that Christians had begun to sing already by
the time the epistles were written. Ephesians captures one. Ephesians
5.14, awake sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will shine
on you. It’s beautiful. This is beautiful. There’s another one captured
in 1 Timothy 3.16. By common confession, great is
the mystery of godliness. He who was revealed in the flesh,
vindicated in the spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the
nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. Those are
song lyrics. And even though the word originally
implied accompaniment by a musical instrument, This is just the song of a believer’s
heart. It’s an echo up to God. It’s
a song of praise that begins from within and bubbles to the
surface. It cannot stay in. One pastor said prayer should
not merely be the plaintiff cry of the sufferer. If that’s all
prayer was, wouldn’t prayer be drudgery? Oh, I’m in suffering
again. I gotta go pray. But this praising God is equally
a prayer. You’re singing it, allegedly
at least, to God. He says, songs of praise are
suitable not only when the heart is glad, but also when trials
and distress engulf us. There’s almost to me nothing
more pleasant to do in the midst of trouble and heartache and
trial. than to sing some of the old powerful hymns of the faith. That’s truth. And so prayer, prompted by affliction,
leads ultimately and naturally to songs of praise as we meditate
on who God is, what he’s like, the truth of the matter. were
led to joyful gratitude. Thomas Manton, in closing, said,
mercies work one way or the other. They either become fuel for our
lusts or our praises. Isn’t that a powerful thought?
Mercies work one way or the other. They either become the fuel of
our lusts or our praises. Either they make us thankful
or greedy. In misery, the duty is prayer.
In prosperity, the duty is giving of thanks. There is no condition
so good, but that there is need of duty. In other words, no matter
what situation you find yourself, anywhere in that spectrum, suffering
or cheerfulness, somewhere in that spectrum, there’s a response
to God. There is none so bad as to be past duty. No providence
exempts you from duty. Well, there’s a third shape that
prayer takes. It’s the prayer over the sick.
And likely, as I said, in order of frequency, there is a third
circumstance that urges us to prayer, namely that of sickness,
But this is not the sickness that we know of as the common
cold. This is legitimate, severe sickness. And because this third form of
prayer also bleeds into the whole subject of intercessory prayer,
we’ll take it up next Lord’s Day. Whether you’re suffering or you’re
cheerful or somewhere in between, Let’s go to him in prayer. Our merciful God. We humble ourselves
before you. And we thank you for our faithful
brother James, your servant. For looking out on his own congregation. Those first century converts
to Christianity. Who were so used to Emptily singing. Praises and going through the
motions always seeking to earn their salvation. How eager, how
full would their heart have been? To sing your praises. With great
enthusiasm for all that you had done. And sending Christ to be
their Messiah, their Savior. Lord God, how much for us? The regardless of the suffering,
the trial in which we find ourselves, we have great cause. To bow our
head before you and to come to you humbly in prayer. And Lord,
in those rare occasions, those times where we see all as you
see it. Where you’re in complete control.
And life is good. and we’re cheerful, we’re happy.
Lord, help us to sing with all enthusiasm in those occasions,
to praise you as is your due. Lord God, we lay these requests
before you and we pray that you would change our hearts. It’s
in Jesus’ name that we pray, amen.