When people and old entered into conversations with God. Like Jacob, they wrestled with God. They stayed at it all night. They were persistent. They were zealous.
Because their concerns that they brought before God came out of the depths. Of their own agony, out of the anguish of their situation, and so. They cried out. Out of the depths of their heart. Two God I'm sure we can all come up with various reasons why our prayer lives are not what we would like them to be.
But as you'll hear today from RC Sprawl, One of the main reasons is that we don't know how to pray. And we can take comfort knowing that even the disciples had to ask Jesus to teach them to pray. This is the Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind, and today we are beginning a new Saturday series on prayer. Over six weeks, Dr. Sproul will help us see what prayer looks like.
He'll explain key elements of prayer. Walk us through the Lord's Prayer and even consider how prayer works in relation to the sovereignty of God. This practical series can be yours when you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. When you click the link in the podcast show notes, We'll unlock the series and study guide for you in the free Ligonier app. and we'll send you a bonded leather edition of the Valley of Vision.
R. C. Sproll said the Puritans were a praying people. And the Valley of Vision is a collection of some of their excellent prayers.
So request this resource offer before it ends at midnight tonight.
So what does prayer look like? Here's stuff to scroll. Anyone who's ever listened to me lecture for any period of time. quickly realizes that I love The Old Testament Scriptures Because we find in the pages of the Old Testament narratives that I find. gripping and poignant and moving because they involve real live people in real life struggles.
As they seek to develop their personal relationship. with God. And one of, I think, the most moving stories that we find in the Old Testament is the story. of Hannah. The mother of Samuel.
We remember that in the second chapter of the first book of Samuel we read the song of Hannah that is so closely compared with Mary's Magnificate in the New Testament. And there are all kinds of parallels between those two women. but the song of celebration and of joy that Hannah Sang in the Old Testament. was in response to God's answering her prayer. And what we're going to be looking at in the next few sessions is a Christian approach.
The prayer. And I want to do this from a practical perspective because I'm acutely aware That many people in the Christian world struggle with this whole matter. of prayer. And that people carry a lot of guilt around with them because they feel that they have not been proficient and consistent. In their prayer lives.
And even a cursory reading of the pages of Scripture reveals that the saints of old. were people who were characterized Bye. a consistent life of prayer. And so what I want to be concerned with in the hours to come is the question how can we Learn how to pray. like the Biblical saints of old.
And I want to start by looking for just a moment at this episode that is recorded for us. In 1 Samuel concerning Hannah. Hannah. had been married. And her life's desire was to bear children.
But we are told in the first chapter that the Lord God had closed her womb. And her rival provoked her severely to make her miserable because, the Lord had closed her womb. And so it was year by year. When she went up to the house of the LORD, that she provoked her. and therefore she wept, and did not eat.
And then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why are you weeping? Why are you not eating? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons.
So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. And Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorposts of the tabernacle of the LORD. And Hannah was in bitterness of sorrow. Yeah. And she prayed to the Lord.
and wept in anguish.
Now you get the scenario here. But Hannah is miserable. and her condition has not been ameliorated over a period of years. And her life had been scorned by her rivals to the point of bitterness. And so her husband sees her and is concerned that she is so downcast and says, What's the matter with you?
It's okay that we don't have any children. Don't I count for anything I would hope that I would mean to you as much as ten sons. But it wasn't enough for Hannah. She wanted to be a mother. And so there, she comes to the tabernacle where Eli is ministering to the people.
And we are told that she prays. out of a spirit of anguish.
Well The New Testament tells us that the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man. availeth much. But that man there Is generic. That is, we could translate that to mean that the fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous person. availeth much.
It's not just male prayers that are efficacious. But notice that when we are told that in the New Testament, But one of the keys 2. Effective Praying is that the prayers be fervent. That they not be desultory, that they not just be Casual. But that when people expect to have answers to prayer, they have to come into the context of prayer, meaning business.
I mean, if God were to walk into your house this afternoon. And you wanted to talk with him. or to beseech him, to implore him, for some action. or to extol him for his greatness. or to confess your sins.
what would be the state of your soul in that conversation? It would certainly not be. Dull. And casual. When people and old entered into conversations with God.
Like Jacob, they wrestled with God. They stayed at it all night. They were persistent. They were zealous. Because their concerns that they brought before God came out of the depths of their own agony, out of the anguish of their situation, and so.
They cried out. Out of the depths of their heart. to God. And that's what happens with Hannah. In bitterness of soul.
She praised to the Lord and she wept in anguish, and she made a vow. and said, O Lord of hosts, If you will indeed look on the infliction of your maidservant, and remember me, and not forget your maidservant. but will give your maid servant a male child. Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. And no razor shall come upon his head.
And it happened. As she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth, Now Hannah spoke in her heart, Only her lips moved. But her voice was not heard. And Eli therefore thought that she was drunk, And so Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk put your wine away from you? But Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit.
I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul. before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief. I have spoken until now. And Eli answered and said, Go in peace.
And the god of Israel Grant your petition. What you have asked of him. Enter prayer. was answered. It was a prayer that she didn't even utter audibly.
It was a prayer that she lifted up silently. She moved her lips as she prayed, but she was addressing God, who can hear the interior cry of her soul from her heart. Just last night. I spoke with a woman. who was married to a minister.
And she said, you know, my husband has a ministry of the word. But my ministry It's a ministry of prayer. And she says she spends her days in prayer. And she says she finds herself speaking out loud, even when she's in the supermarket, going down the aisle. She's sending up prayers to God, praying for the people of the congregation.
She sometimes people look at her like she's crazy. She's not crazy. She's discovered. They sacred. of prayer.
I have to take a moment now to give a contrast. Between the prayer of Hannah. and its result. And the first time I can remember in my life. Really praying hard.
praying out of my soul's concern. and anguish. But I want us to preface this by telling you also that the prayers that I prayed on this occasion were not the prayers of a believer. This prayer that I can remember was uttered and prayed by me in a chapel on my knees. With great fervency, when I was not even a believer in Christ.
The occasion was uh the birth of my sister's first born child. I was in high school. and my sister went into the hospital to have her child, and we were called to the hospital late at night. because after she delivered her son, she began to hemorrhage. And the doctors were not able to do it.
to stem the hemorrhaging. and so her life was in great danger. and when we came into the hospital I was not allowed to go up to her room. I mean, it was such an emergency situation that none of the family were allowed to be in her presence at that time. And so I can remember.
being in the lobby of that hospital, and it was like two o'clock in the morning. There were no other visitors around. It was dark and it was absolutely silent. and I knew that she was on the sixth floor. And I also knew enough about this hospital that on the basement was the hospital morgue.
And I went to the chapel and I prayed that my sister would live. And then after I finished praying, I came and stood in front of that elevator, and I watched the needle as it would go from their various floors. And on one occasion, I saw the elevator open its doors on the lobby. level and I saw a Body that had been covered with a sheet, and then I saw the doors close and it went down to the moor. And my heart was uh terrified.
And so then I watched and watched, and I saw the thing go to the sixth floor. And I watched the arrow come down and it passed up the lobby, and went down to the basement. And again I was terrified. that it was carrying the body of my sister.
So I went back into the chapel. And I cried. I was by myself and I was on my knees and I was begging God. I said, please, God. Don't Hi.
My sister's life. And the doctors were able to stop the hemorrhaging. And she survived. I don't know that I ever went back, got on my knees, To say thank you. If there was such a thing as foxhole religion.
or crisis praying. That's what I had experienced. It really betrayed that I knew there was a God, even before I had committed my life to Christ. or had become a Christian. And prayer was not a part of my life.
But when life and death was in my face, I retreated. to something that should have been natural and regular and a daily practice of me in my life. The next prayer that I can remember praying on my knees. was three years later. When I prayed beside my bed, and ask God to forgive me of my sins.
and the night that I was converted. But I can remember from the very beginning of my Christian life. loving the times. that I had. And personal communion with God.
There was an intimacy about it. And I've had many experiences in my life. of spending eight hours solid. in prayer. Don't get me wrong, don't do that every day.
But I have had many experiences of that. And there is nothing like that. But I learned that concept. Of prolonged praying. and intense praying.
when I was a college professor in the first year of my teaching. I taught in the same college that I had graduated from. And it was a small town. It was an old Presbyterian college. And there was a section of the town that had housing.
for retired missionaries. And there was one gentleman who was in his late 80s who was a retired medical missionary, and his name was Dr. Jamison. And Dr. Jameson was considered by those of us of the younger generation as a bona fide, authentic Christian saint.
He had practiced medicine on the mission field again for decades. but now he had reached the place in his life where he had suffered from certain illnesses and he was infirm. He could no longer practise medicine. It was never his plan or desire to retire. But he couldn't work anymore.
And so what he did at this stage of his life. was he devoted himself to a new vocation. His second career. Was that? of the intercessor.
He said, I can still Work. Eight. hours a day. And so what Dr. Jameson did day in and day out.
eight hours every day was speech. on his knees. He's what we call a prayer warrior.
Now let me tell you something. When we had concerns, when I was living in that town, And we wanted people to pray for us. Who do you think? I wanted to have Dre for me. You got it.
I would go straight to Dr. Jameson's house and knock on the door and said, Dr. Shamasanan, would you pray for me? Yes, of course. And I knew that when he said he was a good person, He would pray for me.
That he would in fact Brave. I think of James in the New Testament. the author of the epistle to James. who, according to early church history, And the best sources that we have from antiquity was in fact The brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he was known in the early church.
by two names, two nicknames. One of his names was James the Just. Because he developed a reputation for an extraordinary Level of personal righteousness. And this was a fellow who wasn't converted to his brother until after his brother. was raised from the dead.
And he went from skeptic to to believe her to the title. James the Just. But his other nickname, I think, was even More revealing. And his other nickname, according to antiquity, was old Camel knees. Old camel knees.
Now, I recently spent some time with my grandchildren in Virginia. And we were sitting around a table and my grandkids were playing and they looked at me and they They call me Pap, and they said Pap Yeah. How comes your face looks like leather? That's out of the mouth of babes.
So, you know, most people don't come up to me and say, why does your face look like leather? But they must be thinking it, if this is what my grandchildren are coming up with. And I say, well, I'm not sure. You know, maybe it's because it's a little bit overworked. Remember, my mouth is 95 years old.
in terms of the miles it has on it. I said so I've been tanned, I guess, over over the years.
Well No one ever accused me of having leather knees. But the phrase old Camelnese was ascribed to James, the brother of Jesus. Because he had callouses, on his knees. From spending so much time. In prayer.
Now. Not everybody is called. to a ministry of prayer. like doctor Jamieson. And not everybody prays with the intensity and persistence of a hannah.
But every one of us Has a capacity for growth. In our Prayer life. And one of the things that I find a little bit sad. Sad. is that we tend To look at prayer.
as a sacred duty. Merely as a duty. And the quickest way I know to get people not to like something. is to set it forth to them as an obligation. Because then it becomes a burden.
and we can lay guilt trips upon people and so on. But in reality Yes, prayer is a duty. I can't deny that it is a duty. We are called and commanded by Christ and the apostles to be constant in prayer. We have that mandate before us, but we already know it's our duty.
And so I'm not going to spend time talking about our obligation to pray. What I want us to see is is the opportunity that it brings to us. how sweet it is. for our lives. To be engaged, to have the opportunity to come into the actual presence of God Himself.
and to speak to him. And to speak to him. from the deepest level of our concerns and of our hearts. And we should not. B considering ourselves failures simply because we haven't been all that successful.
in achieving a consistent prayer life. I think the basic reason why we haven't, in many cases, Is not because we have no desire to have fellowship with God or to commune with God. It's not because we don't have enough time. That's not our problem. It's not because we lack discipline.
All those things may be true, but those aren't the main reasons why we fall short. Of what we could achieve or a joy in prayer. I think the main reason is. We don't No. How?
We don't know how to pray. And that doesn't surprise me when we will see later on when we look at the Lord's Prayer. that the one thing that the disciples of Jesus asked their teacher For extra Credit for extra homework assignments. I mean, there aren't too many students that go up to their teachers and say, thanks for all you've taught me so far, but how about teaching me a little bit more? The one time we see them coming to Jesus and asking for a graduate course is what, Lord, teach us.
How To pray. And I'm convinced the reason they asked that, or two reasons why they asked that. First of all, because I didn't know how. And second of all, They saw that Jesus did know how. They observed him.
They watched him go off by himself. never making an ostentatious display of his piety, They noticed that Jesus was not at all like the Pharisees who paraded their spirituality before everybody, praying at every opportunity in such a pious Uh display. Because They were trying to gain the approval of men. But Jesus didn't do it that way. He got by himself.
Quietly, intimately. He poured out his soul. To the Father. In fact, before Jesus even selected his disciples, you remember, What does the Bible tell us in Luke's Gospel? He spent the whole night.
Pray. Before he chose them. When's the last time you spent a whole night before you made a major decision? in your life.
Well, we don't do that. But the disciples said, hey, there's a correlation here. between the spiritual power of Jesus and the way in which he's plugged in to the Father. in prayer. And so they said to him.
Teach us, please. How to pray. That was R. C. Sproll on this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind, introducing his practical series on prayer.
Speaking of prayer, if you're willing to pray, can I ask you to please pray for two Renewing Your Mind live events coming up this month, one in San Jose, California next week. and another in Raleigh, North Carolina, later this month. And if you're nearby, I'd love for you to join us for an evening of teaching, fellowship, and giveaways as we continue to celebrate three decades of broadcasting truth through Renewing Your Mind. You can learn more at renewingyourmind.org/slash events. Also, know that when you support Renewing Your Mind financially, You are helping all of Ligonier's global outreach.
So to thank you for your donation today at renewingyourmind.org. will send you the bonded leather edition of the Valley of Vision. A collection of Puritan prayers. Plus, we'll unlock today's series on prayer and its study guide in the Ligonier app and at ligoneer.org. You can also use the link in the podcast show notes, but this offer does end at midnight, so be quick.
Next time, RC Sprawl will begin to outline a simple acrostic. that can help each of us in our prayer lives.
So be sure to join us next Saturday here on Renewing Your Mind.
