Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.
This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James. Well, we're going to live up to our name today on Encouraging Prayer. You will be encouraged by what we're going to talk about, right, James?
So go ahead. Well, today we're going to talk about the heart of prayer. Our hearts, God's heart, and how we can learn how to pray more and love it when we do. And this is so important because so many of us feel like we never learn how to really pray and that we'll never be spiritual enough or don't have the gift of prayer, you know. And I'm hoping that if you're someone who feels that way, that by the time we're done today, you'll feel very differently. So James, we've talked before about what some call the gift of prayer and how prayer actually isn't listed among the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible. That's right, Robbie. And that may come as a surprise to some, but it's huge because it points to the simple fact that God longs for all of us to pray. And the beautiful thing is your ability to put words together really has nothing to do with it. Yeah, and that really lifts a burden, especially if you feel like, you know, you can't even pray for two minutes at a time.
That's right. And, you know, I've been thinking about this this week because I've been reading a couple of great little books that really go after this theme. The first one was by John Bunyan, the author of the classic, Pilgrim's Progress. And like that book, he wrote it from the Bedford jail in England. He writes that when you talk to God, you can open your heart to him like a friend.
He calls prayer a sincere, sensible, affectionate, pouring out of the heart or soul to God through Christ. Isn't that a great quote? Oh, that's a great way to put it. Sincerely pouring out, I like that, your heart.
Yeah, yeah, it really is. And the second book I read was also from someone who was jailed for her faith, a French believer by the name of Jean Goyon. Both her and Bunyan went through real personal trials, and what they learned there can really help us. So Jean Goyon says that for those who have received Jesus, that there is one thing we need to learn to do in order to pray well. And it can be done by anyone, and it won't affect our work or anything else we do.
We can do it anywhere. In her little book, Experiencing God Through Prayer, a book she never intended to be published actually, she writes, this simple requirement is that you must learn to pray from your heart and not your head. Well, let's talk some about that. I mean, that's an important distinction if you're praying from your head and you're always thinking about what you're going to say next, but praying from your heart, how is that different? Well, praying from the heart has to do with just loving God and going to Him with love.
And if you think about it, this covers a lot of ground. If you feel love in your heart for God, you're going to worship Him, and you're going to want to obey Him, and you're also going to be at peace in His presence again because you're just loving Him. But that's also the challenge, right? Often when we pray, it's because we're not feeling it, you know, as the saying goes.
Right, right. And that's where Bunyan's emphasis on sincerity and Goyang's emphasis on praying from your heart and not your head really help. Because the beautiful thing is we can go to God and just tell Him that, you know, giving Him the good with the bad and understanding that He is so good that we can do that and He will help us love Him more, especially when we realize that God's Word tells us in Hebrews that Jesus goes to the Father on our behalf and completely understands our weakness. So again, you know, we can just go to Him just as we are. Yeah, that makes such a difference. So praying with the heart really starts, you know, by running to Jesus, doesn't it?
That's right. We usually feel moved to pray when we're going through a difficult time and, you know, we know we really need God's help, but if we start with just loving Jesus and making a practice of that, we'll be able to pray more and stay closer to Him. So, James, what's a good way to jump start? I mean, you know, like, I guess, clear, boom, jump start your heart.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. This has got to be practical. I think the simplest best step is to make a practice of telling Jesus that we love Him and trying to do that more than once in the course of the day. Jean Goyon emphasizes praying God's Word and that can really help us here. I love Psalm 18.1 for this.
It's easy to memorize and so short you can just write it out and put it anywhere that you can see it. Psalm 18.1 says, I love you, O Lord, my strength. And we can learn to just pray that over and over and kind of, you know, just savor that and pray it as we go through the day. Some might think, you know, James, that this sounds a little sentimental, but, you know, how would you respond to that?
Well, if you really love someone, of course it's going to affect your emotions, isn't it? And besides, think of the way that Jesus puts it. Each time he talks about how we should love God, he starts with the heart.
In Luke 10 27, he says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. So notice there, heart and soul come first. Yeah, I really like that. And it's so simple. Yeah, it really is. And it's also very honest and it will help us love God more because the more we pray like this, the more mindful we are of how our hearts can get tugged in so many directions, you know.
I mean, just as we go throughout the day or, you know, clear like you were saying. Like we said when we were just starting out, it's about the heart and not about words. And when we learn to pray our emotions, whatever they may be, and lift them straight to Jesus, it's like being one step closer to him. Wow, thanks, James.
You know, sometimes the simple approaches really are the best, aren't they? So let me wrap things up with a prayer right now. Lord, we do love you and we long for you. And we don't even know how to say it, but Lord, you hear our hearts and through the Holy Spirit that groans for us. Lord, help us to express to you so that you can comfort us as only you can.
Help us come to you with our hearts. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-16 06:27:57 / 2023-12-16 06:31:28 / 4