Practical Challenges: Making Prayer Real
This sermon is very similar to his sermon, "When I Find It Hard to Pray."
Elder E. L. Minchin
“I do not understand it," a young man said, “I hear of people who pray for an hour, and of some who have prayed for two hours. In fact, I have heard of those who have prayed all night. It beats me what they talk about. When I pray, I only pray for a minute or two, and then I have run out of something to talk about. Whatever do they talk about?”
We may smile at this young man's rather crude way of putting it, but this question raises a problem in the minds of many sincere young Christians. They do not doubt the importance of prayer, but they do not know how to pray and find reality in it. Others have said, “When I pray, I feel as if I am talking to myself; my prayers do not seem to rise any higher than the roof.”
These statements all reveal a desire to find reality in that which has to some degree become a hollow sham or mere form. This is the problem of youth everywhere. Can I really know God? How can He become real to me, and how can I find the reality of God in my prayer life? If there is a God, if He has revealed Himself to this world through Jesus Christ, if the Bible is His word to the human race, if prayer enables me to come into direct communion with God so that I can become acquainted with His will and His purpose for my life, nothing is more important to us than to know the reality of such a wonderful privilege.
On one occasion, Jesus had retired as he frequently did to a secret place of prayer, probably on the mountainside or in a garden. The disciples evidently unexpectedly came upon Him. They listened with wonder to their Master communing with His Father. They beheld the radiance upon His face. They saw one who "offered up prayers. . . with strong crying and tears." Heb. 5:7. In silence and wonder the disciples gazed upon the bowed form of their beloved Master. "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray." Luke 11:1. If the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, when He was upon this earth, needed to go aside frequently to commune with His Father to gain strength for His struggle against the powers of darkness, how much more do we poor mortals need that strength.
"He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin. His humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege. He found comfort and joy in communion with His Father. And if the Saviour of men, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mortals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer." Steps to Christ, p. 98.
You will remember that Sabbath Jesus spent in the house of when Peter’s mother lay sick. That Sabbath night, after sunset, the people from the city brought their sick and suffering to Peter’s home for Jesus to heal. "All the city gathered together (Mark 1:33)...and he healed many...and cast out many devils” We don’t know what time Jesus went to bed that night, but it most have been nearly midnight or after when he retired from that wonderful and untiring ministry of love. "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, lie went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Mark 1:35. He no doubt had only a few brief hours for sleep that night. So urgent was His need of communion with His Father that He sacrificed sleep to find new strength from above.
Some time ago I had the privilege of walking where Jesus walked. I was in old Jerusalem. On a Friday night I said to my fellow traveller, "Would you mind if I did something on my own in the morning?" So Sabbath morning early I rose before it was day and went down over the brook Kedron, and up the slopes of the Mount of Olives, and stood and watched the dawn break over the holy city. Then coming down I came to the Garden of Gethsemane where I sat under one of the old olive trees, and taking my Bible I read of Jesus in the Garden. They were solemn moments for me. I pictured my Saviour in that place so many years ago where He struggled and prayed and won the victory. How little I seem to have known of that agony, that holy passion, and complete resignation to the Father’s will. We are told that He offered His prayers with strong crying and tears. Heb. 5.
Surely, young people, we who have felt His call in our hearts should come to Him and ask with the disciples of old, “Lord, teach us to pray."
What is prayer? In the beautiful little book Steps to Christ there is a chapter entitled, “The Privilege of Prayer." I have read it many times; in fact I have a copy of this precious little volume that was given to me when I was a boy of seventeen. It is marked on every page and accompanies my Bible and me everywhere we go. I hope every youth here has a copy of Steps to Christ. If not, be sure you secure one this week. On page 97 we read that beautiful and familiar definition, "Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend." Think of it—friendship with God, and the privilege of communion with Him! My best human friend is my wife. How we love to commune with each other. We talk about everything together and share our inmost hearts. She knows my faults and my weaknesses, but she loves me just the same. When we are separated our friendship means even more. And how I love to see that dear, familiar handwriting on the letters that reach me in so many corners of the earth. How wonderful to have such a human friend. But think of it—Jesus is a still more wonderful and understanding friend. He is the friend of sinners. He lived and died for us, and is coming back for us. In heaven He has no other interest than ours. He knows the worst about us, but loves us just the same. Listen to this, from Steps to Christ, page 105:
"Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our Heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest."
I want to know such a friend as that, don't you? Prayer brings us that privilege,
It is not difficult to talk with those we love. We long to be in their presence.
Recently I returned from a long trip abroad, and I had not seen one of my daughters for many months. She is a young minister's wife. I called her about two hundred miles away on the telephone the day I arrived home. She said she wanted to hug the telephone! That wasn't enough. In a few days, she surprised us by arriving home with her family to be with us overnight. She said, "Daddy, I could not bear it any longer. I couldn't wait another day before I saw you." Oh, if we all felt like that about Jesus, what a difference it would make! How we would cherish every moment spent in His presence!
Another definition of prayer is given in Messages to Young People, page 249: “Prayer is the breath of the soul." How long could you live without breathing? Just a few moments, that is all. Breath is life. No breath no life. Prayer is the breath or life of the soul. We are told that "in the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace, as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live, and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus." Steps to Christ, p. 72 If I breathe this life-giving atmosphere of grace, I will live. If not, I will die, "He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life." 1 John 5:12.
I saw some beautiful roses in a store one day. I went to purchase some for my wife. I leaned over to inhale their fragrance, but they had none. I touched them and they were stiff and dead. They were frauds; they were artificial flowers. They had the appearance of life but there was none. So it is with us, if we have Christ, we have life. If we do not have Him, we do not have life. We are artificial Christians. Friend, what kind of a Christian are you?
Again in that wonderful little book. Steps to Christ, page 99, we read another definition of prayer: "Prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence." Think of it? Why should we be reluctant to pray with such boundless resources at our command? Many of us are living as spiritual paupers when we might be spiritual millionaires. Yes, we are poor when we might be rich. We are weak when we might be strong. We are satisfied with little when we when we might have much.
What about your key, young friend? Do you have one? Are you using it? Remember, it is of use only in the hand of faith. Think of what faith and prayer have done. Read the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11, again. Remember the mighty men and women, and the youth, down through the ages "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Heb. 11:33,34. “The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” Dan. 11:32. This is the time for the exploits of youth who are strong in God. Nothing can hold against youth who are linked with the mighty power of God through faith. Surely, now, this week, is the time when we should open our hearts anew to this great power, and discover anew the limitless possibilities there are in Christ and the boundless resources of our Heavenly Father.
A beautiful story of the reality of prayer in the life of a teenager, came from the pen of James White, the husband of Ellen White, a great leader and a man of God. Telling twenty years later of an experience he had when a boy of thirteen, he wrote:
”I shall never forget when I bowed in the grove and asked God, for Jesus’ sake, to forgive my sins, I had been mourning for several days, because I was a sinner, and on that morning I went to the grove weeping. I was only thirteen, yet I felt I was a great sinner, I begged the Lord for pardon and mercy. I wept aloud. Pressed with the weight of my sins, I felt that I was helpless and miserable without Christ, and then ventured to cast myself upon the mercy of God, for time and eternity, in the following words: "Here, Lord, I give my life away. ‘Tis all that I can do.’ At that moment I felt a great relief. Peace gradually flowed into my heart. The place where I was bowed in prayer seemed the sweetest spot on earth. The change was in me. That sweet morning I shall never forget, I now remember well (though it was nearly twenty years ago) how I felt as I left the hallowed spot where my heart was first filled with the love of Jesus. He seemed so near to me that as I walked from the grove with His praise in my mouth, I reached up my arms to embrace Him."—Youth’s Instructor, February, 1854. Republished in Review and Herald, June 16 1949, pp. 4,5.
Read that little story over and over again, young friend. It is a story of a reality in spiritual things and in prayer that so very few have experienced. How many of our youth today have had such a personal relationship to the Lord Jesus, and found the reality of His presence as did thirteen-year old James White. May this Week of Prayer bring a new hunger into the hearts of our youth for this experience. It is possible to have been brought up in the church, to have a nominal faith in Christ and in this message, and yet not to know Him and the reality of His presence. However, a nominal faith in Christ will not avail us in the last day. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent," John 17:3.
Friend of mine, how is it with you? You long to enter into a new relationship with God and with your Saviour, when you go home tonight why not get alone in your room, or go out under the stars somewhere, and open your whole life to Him, as did James White. Take time. Do not be in a hurry. Hold on in faith and God will surely reveal Himself to you.
What would happen if at this time a half a million, dedicated, faith-filled young people,who truly knew their God, would go forth to conquer the world for Christ? A hand full of eleven men of faith and passionate devotion to Christ went out over two thousand years ago and shook the world and turned it upside down with the greatest moral and spiritual awakening that has ever been seen before or since. “Do it again, O Lord,” is our prayer. “Visit our youth. Open their eyes and hearts and make them willing in this the day of Thy power.”—E. L. Minchin
