Are We Too Proud to Really Pray?

Welcome to this 2021 National Day of Prayer Special with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City.

I'm sorry to have to say this. I wish this wouldn't be my message today, but I would be a betrayer of God and a betrayer of scripture if I told you that somehow following the journey that we're on today, we're going to reach a different destination or different conclusion. It's simply not going to be. There is a day coming in America when there's going to be a loss of hope for the future. If there's ever been a time in America's history when we need to turn back to God and have a true face-to-face encounter with Him, it is right now.

If we don't, it will cost us. God will remove His protection, blessing, and prosperity, which together made our nation the envy of the entire world. Today, you'll hear a call to humbly seek God's forgiveness and grace, believing the Lord will continue to have His hand on our country. Let's join Carter now as he asks the question, are we too proud to really pray? Let me read to you an article about the first call to prayer in 1775 and how the National Day of Prayer has become something that is really systemic in American culture. Because of the faith of many of our founding fathers, public prayer and national days of prayer have a longstanding and significant history in American tradition.

The Supreme Court affirmed the right of state legislatures to open their sessions with prayer in Marsh v. Chambers in 1983. The National Day of Prayer is a vital part of our heritage. Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation, the call to prayer has continued throughout our history, including President Lincoln's proclamation of a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer in 1863. In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress signed by President Truman declared an annual National Day of Prayer. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Reagan, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of every May. Each year, the President signs a proclamation encouraging all Americans to pray on this day.

Last year, all 50 state governors, plus the governors of several U.S. territories, signed similar proclamations. So we come once again to the National Day of Prayer, which leads me now to a question, which is the title of my sharing with you today. Are we too proud to really pray? You and I realize that prayer can just be a perfunctory performance. In the religiousness that remains in some part of our society, we pray specific things, but honest prayer, real prayer, is coming face to face with God for an intimate conversation with him. It's not just us talking to God. It's God talking back to us. It requires you and I, individually and then corporately as a nation, that we stand in the presence of God and just simply ask him to do some certain things and be willing to have him ask us certain questions about our behaviors.

Or perhaps about our relevance to his word and his ways that he says that we should be living in in our time. I want to go back in history today. I want to go back to a time in the nation of Israel in the book of Isaiah, chapter 30. When the nation of Israel was in danger, especially the part of it called Judah, of being triumphed over by a nation called Assyria. Now the Assyrians, when they would come against the nation of Israel, in this case the people of God, they conquered by assimilation.

In other words, they would allow the people to more or less exist in their midst, but they required of the people that they adopt the value system, the ways, the culture of the Assyrian way of thinking. So this was a very, very direct threat against the people of God at this time. And so God was trying to speak to his people through the voices that he had raised up to encourage them to come back to him and trust, to come back to him with really an honest face to face interaction with God.

It was their behavior, it was their lack of respect to his ways and to his word that was allowing the enemies of God's people to rise up and actually threaten to swallow them up in this other culture. And so here is God now speaking through the prophet Isaiah to his people beginning in chapter 30 and verse 8. He says, Now go write it before them on a tablet and note it on a scroll that it may be for time to come forever and ever. In other words, God says, Isaiah, I want you to write down the reasonings that I'm attempting to have with my people at this time.

I'm trying to speak to them about their behaviors. I'm trying to talk to them about why this enemy called Assyria is rising up and threatening to take away their testimony, threatening to take away their safety, their security, their history, their traditions. Everything that I've given them is now in jeopardy, and I want you to write it down in a permanent place. And of course, you and I know that it's written down today in the word of God, so it is there in a permanent place. That it might be for instruction for the people of God, the people of Israel of that time, and for future generations and future countries where the word of God is honored and at least in its foundation given some reverence. Now Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17, he says, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now God says, I've given you my word and part of the reason is not just to encourage you, it's to correct you.

It's to help you to turn in a way that is right so that the protection and presence of God might remain among you. And the people that I set you apart to be for my glory might not be conquered by some foreign thought or some foreign power. In verse 17 he says that the men of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Now, here is God through the prophet Isaiah talking about his own people of that time. Now keep in mind, the nation of Israel is a very, very religious nation. There is no shortage of prayer going on in this nation. People are going to the temple on a regular basis, there are sacrifices going on, there's incense being burned. Religion was interwoven very, very deeply in the fabric of this society.

I suppose as it is in great measure, or at least was, in American society. But yet the religion had come to the point where there's no longer really any interaction with God. The people are praying but they're not really talking to God.

It's all just learned behavior. It's the old God bless America approach when we don't even know what it means and half the people who say it don't even care. It's realistically they're just saying, oh God, give us prosperity no matter how we behave or what we do or how we reverence or don't reverence your word, how we behave, I obey, or in spite of what we do, we just ask for your blessing. Now here's what God says through Isaiah about his own people.

This is a rebellious people. This is Isaiah chapter 30 verse 9. Lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord. In other words, God says, I'm trying to speak to them.

I have written down what a proper relationship with me looks like, what I require of those that are called by my name and say they're my people. But they're turning their ears and their eyes and their hearts away from it. They will not hear it. Now the Lord says, of course I've raised up people to challenge them on this, but here's their response. In verse 10 it says, who say to the seers, do not see.

Now seers are people who could, in a sense, predict the future. In a sense say, if you continue on this path, this is what's going to happen. Now there's no shortage of people in our generation or in generations past that have tried to warn this nation that if you persist in going in this direction, it's going to cost you.

It's going to cost you as it has cost nations before you. You're going to lose the protection, the blessing, the prosperity of God that has made you a people to be envied throughout the world. It's all going to fall through your fingers if you don't turn back and really pray and really talk to God and really have a face-to-face encounter.

If ever America needed such a thing, it's right now. We need as a people to stand before God and have a face-to-face encounter with God. But they say to the seers, do not see. Don't tell us what our future's going to look like.

If it's not nice, we don't want to hear about it. Don't tell us that there's going to be trouble or difficulty or poverty or our prosperity is going to just slip through our fingers. Just don't talk to us about these things. And they say to the prophets, do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way.

Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Don't challenge our behavior.

Tell us nice things about ourselves. Tell us how much God loves us. Tell us that everything is going to be fine. But don't warn us about the coming days. Don't warn us about the things that might be coming our way that are going to cause us difficulty in the future.

We really don't want to hear these things. You know, in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, chapter 27, there were people on a ship that were undertaking a journey. And the apostle Paul was with them. And he was a man that God was using to speak to them realistically about the peril of their journey. And it says in chapter 27, in the book of Acts, verses 9 and 10, Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo in the ship, but also our lives. So here's the voice of God on a ship with people who are undertaking a journey. And the voice of God through the apostle Paul is saying, Don't take this journey. Don't go in this direction. Don't do these things.

If you persist in doing this, it's going to end in disaster. And there's going to be incredible loss, not only of this vessel and of its cargo, its provision, but also our very lives are going to be in danger. Nevertheless, it says in verse 11, The centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. You see, it was really all about commerce. Everybody wanted to prosper. Everybody wanted to be in charge and in control. They were, in a sense, trying to procure their own futures without God or His word guiding them.

And the harbor was not suitable to winter in, and the majority advised to set sail from there also. In other words, the majority agreed with reasonings that were not the reasonings of God. Doesn't that sound like our day, where we're starting to call evil good? We're calling good evil. We're changing the laws of God. We somehow think that we are different than those who have come before us, that there'd be no consequence to this, that we can carry on in our present journey, and the storms that have overtaken others won't somehow not overtake us. You're listening to the National Day of Prayer 2021 special, Are We Too Proud to Really Pray?

with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in the heart of New York City. Now let's go back to Isaiah chapter 30 and take it up again at verse 12. Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and you rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant, and he shall break it like the breaking of a potter's vessel, which is broken in pieces he shall not spare, so there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern. God says through the prophet Isaiah to his people of that time, I've tried to speak to you, but you won't listen.

I've tried to reason with you, but you can't be reasoned with. And you have turned to perversity, and you've turned to oppression. Everyone is trying to climb on top of somebody else to get to power and to be higher on the totem pole than the person next to you. And you think this is going to give you some kind of security in the future. But it's building up an iniquity in the nation, and it's like a wall that's built on a crooked plane, and suddenly it's just going to fall. And it's going to be so devastating, he told his own people Israel, that it's going to be broken into so many pieces that there be no use to anything of it that is left. This is God speaking this to his own people. His own people that he brought out of captivity and bondage and brought them into a beautiful land where they were to live for him, and he was going to be their God, and he was going to rise them up, in a sense, above places in the earth where his name is not known and he's not honored for the purpose of drawing other people to a living relationship with him as they had. You think about the origins of America, how the pilgrims came over to America, and God gave them a promise that I'm going to take you to a place where you can worship me freely and according to conscience, I'll be God to you, I'll prosper you, I'll bless you. And America was founded on that foundation.

That's not even debatable for anybody who even has a history text and is willing to read it. You will understand this was the foundation of this nation. The men and women in that early room who were pilgrims prayed, and their prayer had to have been honest with God because they had no strength left, they had no power, they had no plan, they were surrounded by enemies.

Only God could have done this. And in their weakness, he became their strength and took this little band of 50 or so people that survived the first winter and from that little group, we have a nation of over 300 million people. A nation that has done exploits, a nation that has prospered possibly above any nation in the history of the world. A nation that people have clamored to get to as the pilgrims once did 400 years ago. They've clamored to get to the nation so that they too can share in the blessing that was given to this nation by God. And instead of honoring that, we've turned away from it as people of Isaiah's time once did and also the people in Acts 27 who are on this journey. And Isaiah told the nation of Israel, the nation will be so broken apart that there will be almost nothing that anybody can grab hold of anymore.

Of its fragments, it will be of any use. And you think in Acts chapter 27, this sudden storm hits these people. They convince themselves that we're on a great journey and our journey is going to bring us to this prosperous place. And suddenly, they're caught in this incredible storm and it's so powerful that they can't head into it.

They can't oppose it. It now begins to drive them. Does that sound familiar to you today?

Are we leading in this parade today or is the wind of this present moment driving us as a people to an unfamiliar place? They began to throw out the tackling of the ship. They began to panic. And then, of course, when the ship finally broke apart, just as it had. When it broke apart, there was almost nothing big enough left. It didn't even look like a ship once it had dissolved, it had broken apart.

There were only pieces big enough left for people to grab onto and swim to the land. And that's exactly what God had warned about through the prophet Isaiah. And the ironic thing is that they would have known this scripture. This was their history. This was these people's history. And they knew it. And they knew how God deals with people in mercy, when they turn to him and in judgment. They knew all of this, yet they didn't learn from it.

Isn't it amazing? Even though scripture is given to us for instruction and is profitable for correction, doctrine, reproof, they knew this, yet they turned away from it, somehow thinking that following the same course as others that followed before us, we're going to arrive at a different conclusion. And that's the ultimate folly of humanity. And in America, we're committing that folly today. We think that we can take the same course that others have taken before us. I could give you example after example after example throughout scripture where people took the same course that we're on today, began to call evil good and good evil, and we have hardly any record of anything but justice and judgment in their society because of what they did.

What a tragedy for us to think that we can do the same thing in America today and somehow arrive at a different conclusion. Now let's go back to Isaiah chapter 30 again, beginning at verse 15. For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Here is the passion of God. Here's the mercy of God.

It's the same as when Jesus Christ stood in the last day of the feast in the Gospel of John. He says, if anyone is thirsty here still, come to me. And if you turn to me, as the scripture has said, out of your inward parts this living water will begin to flow again.

If you will return to me, I'll give you rest. He promised to give us peace, not as the world gives, but as only He can give. He'll bring us into quietness and confidence and it would become our strength. And as a nation, surely you know right now that we are anything but quiet and confident on our present journey.

But it goes on, He says, but you would not. And you said, no, for we will flee on horses, therefore you shall flee. And we will ride on swift horses. In other words, we can do this. We have a strategy. We know how to escape our present troubles.

And if our present plan doesn't work, we'll get a better one and we'll continue to do this. And He says, therefore those who pursue you will be swift. One thousand shall flee at the threat of one and at the threat of five you shall flee.

To your left is a pole on top of a mountain and is a banner on a hill. In the book of Acts it says, on this journey that we talked about with Paul, Now when neither sun nor stars, Acts 27-20, appeared for many days and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. You see, this is where we're going to come to as a nation. I'm sorry to have to say this. I wish this wouldn't be my message today, but I would be a betrayer of God and a betrayer of Scripture if I told you that somehow, following the journey that we're on today, we're going to reach a different destination or different conclusion. It's simply not going to be. There is a day coming in America when there's going to be a loss of hope for the future.

And this is what happened. Now God said through Isaiah to His people, I, one thousand, will flee at the threat of one and at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain and as a banner on a hill. In other words, you're going to flee and everyone's going to be looking for the high ground. You're going to be all looking for a place of safety, a place of provision.

It's going to get very, very difficult very hard in the future. Then He says these words, which I just love, in Isaiah 30 18. For in it, you see, we see the heart of God now. Therefore the Lord will wait that He may be gracious to you. And therefore He will be exalted that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice and blessed are all those who wait for Him.

So God is saying this, I will wait there for you. You won't listen to me. You won't talk to me.

You and I can't have an honest dialogue one with another. You're not willing to let me talk to you about your ways and how you've offended the grace of a holy God. So I'm going to let your storm pursue you. And you're going to try to flee, but your enemies are going to be stronger than you.

And you're going to run to a place of safety. And in this case, He talks about being left as a pole on top of a mountain and as a banner on a hill. You know, the New Testament talks about there's a song on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. You see, this is a type, as I read it, of that place where God died to give us the victory, where He died to have a living relationship. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to a cross so that He could have a living relationship with us and offer us the life and the hope that only He can. But when we run away from doing things His way, from living in a living relationship with Him the way He has prescribed it to be, the only thing left to us is for our storms to begin to pursue us until we run back to the place and are perhaps at this time and at that time willing to consider the truth one more time.

Remember Jesus Christ said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. He will wait there for you that He may be gracious to you and He will be exalted because He will have mercy on you. And so I do see hardship ahead for this nation. But I do see a mercy moment coming to the nation when we come to our senses and realize there is no place to go but back to that place of God's mercy, back to the place of a real living relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ that was the cornerstone of the founding of this wonderful nation called the United States of America. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, back in Acts 27, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. In other words, all hope that we could save ourselves, all hope that our journey, the way we prescribed it, the way we thought it should go, it was finally given up. We lost the tackling, we threw our food overboard, our sails were tattered, our ship was falling apart, the winds were beating us, our own anchors at the back couldn't slow up the journey. We're heading to a distant land, it was a foreign place, it was a strange place, we knew the ship was going to break up, and we finally lost hope of procuring a good future, or in this case, in Acts 27, of even surviving.

Now remember God said to his people Israel, I will wait there, when you get to that place I will be there to meet you. In Acts 27, when hope was finally given up, God, through the apostle Paul, began to speak one more time to the people. After long abstinence from food, Paul stood in the midst of them and said, Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. But now I urge you to take heart, there'll be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. In other words, your vessel is going to break apart, but because you're willing to hear me now, I'm going to bring you individually to safety. For there stood by me this night an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, Do not be afraid, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar. And indeed God has granted you all those who sailed with you. Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island. God was true to his word, and he brought these people through their storm and brought them to a place of safety.

It was a foreign place, it was a strange place, it was a cold place, it was a dark place. But at least in that place, they had an opportunity to consider their ways and see the power of God in operation once again. And so here we go, America. Are we too proud to really pray? Have we come so far that our prayer is just going to be just another cultural event with no real heart? Are we willing to consider our ways? Are we willing to consider what we've done with the definitions of things in this society and how we've turned from truth and embraced lies?

Or do we just carry on on our journey and pretend that we have a relationship with God? Oh God, may it not be. God bless you, and may your voice be heard at the throne of God this National Day of Prayer. So Father, I pray for every person who's listening to this broadcast today.

Lord Jesus Christ, let it start with me. Let it start with the man, the woman that's listening to this broadcast today, that we will stand in your presence, God, now, before the nation is in a place of disaster, God. We will stand and say, Lord, search my heart, try me, know my ways, see if there'd be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of life everlasting. Have mercy on our families, have mercy on our homes, have mercy on our children. My God, have mercy even on those who oppose the truth and try and choose to believe a lie. We ask you for mercy in the season of storms that has come upon this nation. And Father, we just thank you, God, that many of us will not be too proud to really pray and really stand in your presence. That's TSC.NYC.