Hindrances to Prayer

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, 1874,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"That your prayers be not hindered." 1 Peter 3:7.

TO many persons this discourse will have but little reference because
they do not pray. I fear, also, there are some others whose prayers are
so worthless that if they were hindered it would be of no very material
consequence. It is even possible that their being forced to omit them
might arouse them out of a self-righteous lethargy. Merely to bow the
knee in formality, to go through a form of devotion in a careless or
half-hearted manner is rather to mock God than to worship Him. It would
be a terrible theme for contemplation to consider how much of vain
repetition and heartless praying the Lord is wearied with from day to
day. I would, however, most solemnly remind those who do not truly pray
that the wrath of God abides on them! He who never seeks for mercy has
certainly never found it. Conscience acknowledges it to be a righteous
thing with God that He should not give to those who will not ask.

It is the smallest thing that can be expected of us that we should
humbly ask for the favors we need and if we refuse to do so, it is but
right that the door of Divine Grace should be closed so long as men
refuse to knock. Prayer is no hard requirement–it is the natural duty
of a creature to its Creator–the simplest homage which human need can
pay to Divine liberality. Those who refuse to render it may well expect
that one of these days, when in dire extremity they begin to bemoan
their folly, they will hear a voice from their insulted God, saying, "I
called and you refused; I stretched out My hands and no man regarded;
therefore I, also, will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your
fear comes."

The old story tells of a monarch who gave to a favorite courtier a ring
which he might send to her in case he should be under her displeasure,
promising that at the sight thereof he should be restored to favor.
Later, when the courtier was implicated in treason, the Queen anxiously
awaited the ring, but that ring was never shown, though long waited
for, and it was little wonder that, concluding the offender to be
stubbornly rebellious, a sentence of execution was carried out. If a
sinner will not plead the name of Jesus to which the promise of
forgiveness is appended–if he will not bend his knee in penitential
prayer and ask for pardon at the hand of God, none will wonder that he
perishes for his folly. None will be able to accuse the Lord of too
great a severity when He casts away forever all prayerless souls! O you
who never pray, I tremble for you! Would to God you would tremble for
yourselves, for there is cause enough for it!

To those who pray, prayer is a most precious thing, for it is the
channel by which priceless blessings come to them, the window through
which their needs are supplied by a gracious God. To Believers, prayer
is the great means of soul enrichment–it is the vessel which trades
with Heaven and comes home from the celestial country laden with
treasures of far greater worth than ever Spanish galleon brought from
the land of gold. Indeed, to true Believers, prayer is so invaluable
that the danger of hindering it is used by Peter as a motive why, in
their marriage relationships and household concerns, they should behave
themselves with great wisdom. He bids the husband "dwell" with his wife
"according to knowledge," and render loving honor to her, lest their
united prayers should be hindered! Anything which hinders prayer must
be wrong. If any management of the family, or lack of management, is
injuring our power in prayer, there is an urgent demand for an
alteration. Husband and wife should pray together, as joint-heirs of
Divine Grace, and any temper or habit which hinders this is evil.

The text would be most appropriately used to stimulate Christians to
diligence in family prayer, and though I shall not so use it on this
occasion, it is not because I undervalue the institution, for I esteem
it so highly that no language of mine can adequately express my sense
of its value. The house in which there is no family altar can scarcely
expect a Divine blessing. If the Lord does not cover our habitation
with His wings, our family is like a house without a roof. If we do not
seek the Lord's guidance, our household is a ship without a pilot. And
unless guarded by devotion, our family will be a field without a hedge.
The mournful behavior of many of the children of professing parents is
mainly due to the neglect

or the coldness of family worship–and many a judgment has, I doubt
not–fallen upon households because the Lord is not duly honored
therein.

Eli's sin still brings with it the visitations of a jealous God. That
word of Jeremiah bears hard upon prayerless families, "Pour out Your
fury upon the households that call not upon Your name." His mercy
visits every house where night and morning vows are paid, but where
these are neglected, sin is incurred. In the good old Puritan times it
was said that if you had walked down Cheapside you would have heard in
every house the voice of a Psalm at a certain hour of the morning and
evening, for there was no house, then, of professed Christians without
family prayer! I believe that the bulwark of Protestantism against
Popery is family worship. Take that away–and the instruction of
children in the fear of God–and you lay this country open, again, to
the theory that prayer is most acceptable in the parish Church.

And then you get into the sacredness ofplaces. Then, taking away the
priesthood from the father of the family–who ought to be the priest in
his own house–you make an opening for a superstitious priesthood and,
leaving the teaching with these pretenders, mischief innumerable are
introduced! If neglect of family prayer should become general
throughout our Churches it will be a dark day for England! Children who
observe that their parents are practically prayerless in the household
will grow up indifferent to religion–and in many cases will be utter
worldlings–if not altogether atheists. This is a matter about which
the Church cannot make any inquisitorial inquiry–it must be left to
the good sense and the Christian spirit of the heads of households! I
therefore speak all the more strongly and pray you to order things at
home that family prayer is not hindered.

At this time, however, I shall use the text for another purpose, and
apply it to the hindrances which beset private prayer. Our prayers may
be hindered thus–first, we may be hindered from prayer. Secondly, we
may be hindered in prayer. And, thirdly, we may be hindered from our
prayers being effective with God.

I. First, there is such a thing as being HINDERED FROM PRAYER–and that
may be done by falling into a generally lax, lukewarm condition in
reference to the things of God. When a man becomes cold, indifferent
and careless, one of the first things that will suffer will be his
devotion. When a sick man is in a decline his lungs suffer, and his
voice–and so when a Christian is in a spiritual decline the breath of
prayer is affected–and the cry of supplication becomes weak. Prayer is
the true gauge of spiritual power. To hold back prayer is dangerous and
of deadly tendency. You may depend upon it that, take it for all in
all, what you are upon your knees you are really before your God.

What the Pharisee and the Publican were in prayer was the true
criterion of their spiritual state. You may maintain a decent
reputation among men, but it is a small matter to be judged of man's
judgment–men see only the surface–while the Lord's eyes pry into the
recesses of the soul. If He sees that you are prayerless, He makes
small account of your attendance at religious meetings, or your loud
professions of conversion. If you are a man of earnest prayer and
especially if the spirit of prayer is in you, so that in addition to
certain seasons of supplication your heart habitually talks with God,
things are right with you. But if this is not the case and your prayers
are "hindered," there is something in your spiritual system which needs
to be ejected, or something lacking which ought to be taken care of at
once. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues
of life," and living prayers are among those issues.

Prayers may be hindered, next, by having too much to do. In this age
this is a very common occurrence. We men have too much business for
ourselves. The quiet days of our contented forefathers are gone and men
allot to themselves an increasing drudgery. Not content to earn as much
as is necessary for themselves and families, they must have much more
than they can possibly enjoy for themselves, or profitably use for
others. Wisdom seems to say that one staff is enough for a man to walk
with, but ambition cannot be contented unless it carries a load of
staves upon its back. "Enough is as good as a feast," said the old
proverb, but nowadays neither enough nor a feast will satisfy men! They
must accumulate more than would feast thousands of families before they
can be content–no, they are not even content then!

Many a man who might have been of great service to the Church of God
becomes useless because he must branch out in some new direction in
business which takes up all his spare time. Instead of feeling that his
first care should be, "How can I best glorify God?" his all-absorbing
objective is to "stretch his arms like seas and grasp in all the
shore." Thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of pounds
cannot silence the greedy horseleech which men have swallowed, which
continually cries, "Give, give!" Many add house to house and field to
field, as though they meant to be left alone in the land! Alas, that
Christians should be infected with the same fever! The rich man in the
parable had no time for prayer, for he was busy in planning new barns
in which to bestow his goods–but he had to find time for dying

when the Lord said, "This night shall your soul be required of you."
Beware, I pray you, of "the desire of other things," the canker of
riches, the insatiable greed which drives men into the snare of the
devil, for if it works you no other ill, it will do you mischief,
enough, if your prayers are hindered.

We may even have too much to do in God's house, and so hinder our
prayers by being like Martha, numbered with much serving. I never heard
of anyone who was hindered with too much praying. The more we do, the
more we should pray, and prayer should balance our service, or rather,
it should be the lifeblood of every action and saturate our entire
life, as the dew of Heaven filled Gideon's fleece. We cannot labor too
much if prayer is proportionate, but I fear that some of us would do
far more if we attempted less and prayed more about it. I even fear
that some allow public religious engagements to override private
communion with God–they attend too many sermons, too many conferences,
too many Bible readings, too many committees–yes, and too many Prayer
Meetings! They are all good in their way, but all acting injuriously
when they cramp our secret, or private prayer.

Mrs. Row said that if the Apostles were preaching at her time of
private communion with God she would not forsake her closet to go and
hear them. It must be better to be with God than with Peter or Paul1
Praying is the end of preaching, and woe to the man who, prizing the
means more than the end, allows any other form of service to push his
prayers into a corner. There can be no doubt, also, that prayer is
hindered by having too little to do. If you want a thing well done, you
must go to the man who has a great deal to do, for he is the man to do
it for you! People who have nothing to do generally do it with a great
deal of fuss. From morning to night they waste other people's
time–they are the callers, the interviewers, the people who write
catching paragraphs about public men–very frequently invented in their
own silly brains.

These are the propagators of slander, who in very wantonness spit upon
good men's characters. Having nothing to do, they are hired by Satan to
hinder and injure others. If such people ever do pray, I am sure their
indolence must very much hinder them. The man who has to teach in the
Ragged School finds he must cry for help to master those wild young
natures. The young lady who has, around her, a dozen girls whom she
longs to bring to the Savior, feels it imperative upon her to pray for
Jane and Ellen, that they may be converted to God. The minister, whose
hands are full of holy toil and whose eyes fail with sacred watching,
finds he cannot do without drawing near unto his God! If these servants
of Jesus had less to do they would pray less, but holy industry is the
nurse of devotion!

I said we might do too much and I could not balance that truth unless I
added that a very large proportion of Christians do too little. God has
given them enough wealth to be able to retire from business. They have
time upon their hands and they have even to invent ways of spending
that time–and yet the ignorant require instructing, the sick need
visiting, the poor need helping–should they not lay out their abundant
leisure in the service of God? Would they not, then, be quickened in
prayer? I wish that all could say with one of the Lord's saints,
"Prayer is my business and praise is my pleasure"–but I am sure they
never will till the zeal of the Lord's house shall more fully consume
them. Some people hinder their prayers, again, by a lack of order. They
get up a little too late and they have to chase their work all the day
and never overtake it. They are always in a flurry, one duty tripping
up the heels of another.

They have no appointed time for retirement, to little space hedged
about for communion with God and, consequently, something or other
happens and prayer is forgotten–no, I hope not quite forgotten, but so
slurred and hurried over that it amounts to little and brings them no
blessing. I wish you would each keep a diary of how you pray next week,
and see how much, or rather how little time you spend with God out of
the 24 hours. Much time goes at the table, how much at the Mercy Seat?
Many hours are spent with men, how many with your Maker? You are
somewhat with your friends on earth, how many minutes are you with your
Friend in Heaven? You allow yourself space for recreation, what do you
set apart for those exercises which in very truth re-create the soul?

"A place for everything, and everything in its place," is a good rule
for schools and houses of business, and it will be equally useful in
spiritual matters. Other duties should be done, but prayer must not be
left undone–it must have its own place and sufficient time for it.
Care must be taken that our "prayers be not hindered," so that we omit
or abridge them. But time compels me to leave this wide subject and
proceed.

II. Secondly, we must watch that we are not HINDERED IN PRAYER, when we
are really engaged in that holy work. Here I might go over the same
ground as before and remark that some are hindered while in their
prayers by being lax and lukewarm–a great hindrance. Others by having
too much or too little to do, and another class by being in that

hurried condition of heart which results from a lack of order. But I
need not repeat myself when you are so eagerly drinking in my words!
Let us note that some are hindered in prayer by selecting an unfit time
and place. There are times when you may expect a knock at your own
door, do not just then knock at God's door! There are hours when your
letters arrive, when customers call, when trades people need attention,
when workmen need orders–it would be foolish to be going into your
closet just then!

If you are employed by others, you must not present to God those hours
which belong to your employer. You will be honoring the Lord better by
diligence in your calling. There are times that are demanded of you by
the necessities of the household and your lawful calling–these are
already the Lord's in another way–let them be used for their own
purpose. Never defile one duty with the blood of another. Give to God
and prayer those suitable times in which you can reasonably expect to
be alone. Of course you can pray at your work in ejaculations and
silent groans–and you ought to be in the spirit of supplication all
day long–but I am alluding, now, to times specially devoted to
supplication–and I say choose a season and a place where you can be
free from interruption.

A pious lad who had no place at home to pray, went to the stable and
climbed up into the hayloft. But very soon someone came up the ladder
and interrupted him. The next time he took care to pull the ladder up
after him–a very useful hint for us. It would be well, indeed, if we
could so completely pull the ladder up that neither the devil nor the
world could invade our sacred privacy. "You, when you pray, enter into
your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father
which is in secret. And your Father which sees in secret shall reward
you openly." Select, then, the fittest time and place that your prayers
are not hindered.

Worldly cares are frequent and most mischievous hindrances to prayer. A
Christian man should be the most careful man in the world and, yet,
without carefulness. Do you understand that paradox? He should be
careful not to sin, but as for other matters, he should cast his care
on "Him who cares for him." To take everything from God's hands and to
trust everything in God's hands, is a happy way of living and very
helpful to prayer. Has not your Master told you of the ravens and the
lilies? Your heavenly Father feeds and clothes them–will He not clothe
you? "Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Faith
gives peace and peace leaves the soul clear for prayer–but when care
comes in, it confuses the mind and puts the heart away from pleading. A
heart clogged with care is like a man trying to swim with heavy clothes
upon him–he must get them off if he hopes to swim to shore. Many a
sailor has cut his clothes to pieces because he felt he should sink if
he did not get them off.

I could wish that many Christians would tear themselves away from their
excessive worldly engagements, for they have such a mass of care upon
them that they scarcely keep their heads above water! Oh, for more
Grace and less worry! More praying and less hoarding! More intercession
and less speculating! As it is, prayers are sadly hindered. Earthly
pleasures, especially of a dubious kind, are the worst of hindrances.
Some professors indulge in amusements which I am sure are not
consistent with prayer. They resemble flies which plunge into the honey
until the sweet sticks to their wings and legs and they cannot fly. I
once remember reading, "A prayer to be said by a Christian man after
coming home from a theater," "A collect for a saint on returning from
the races," and, "A prayer for a Christian lady on returning from a
ball." Of course they were written sarcastically and were, indeed, a
broad farce.

How can you come home from frivolity and sin and then look into the
face of Jesus? How can the fashions of the world be followed and
communion with God be maintained? You cannot roll in the mire and then
approach with clean garments to the Mercy Seat! How can you come before
the Throne of God with petitions when you have just been dishonoring
the name of the Most High? O Christians, keep yourselves from
everything about which you have any doubt as to its rightness or even
its expediency–whatever is not of faith is sin and will hinder your
prayers! Further, prayers may be hindered equally much by worldly
sorrow. Some give way to sorrow so extremely that they cannot pray. The
tears of rebellious repining dampen the powder of prayer so that a
Christian man cannot send his desires heavenward as he should. The
sorrow which prevents a man's praying is flat rebellion against the
will of God!

Our Lord was "exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death," but then He
prayed–no–"therefore He prayed." It is right to be sorrowful, for God
intends that affliction should be grievous and not joyous. But when
sorrow is right it will drive us to prayer–not drive us from it. And
when we find our grief at the loss of some dear child, or at the decay
of our property hinders our prayers, I think we should say to
ourselves, "Now I must pray, for it must be wrong for me to be so
rebellious against my Father as to refuse to ask anything at His
hands." You would think your child in a very mean

temper if, because he could not have his own way, he would refuse to
ask anything of you and went about the house pouting. Yet many mourners
act in this fashion. We would deeply sympathize with their sorrow, but
we may not excuse their repining–for the "sorrow of the world works
death"–and is unfitting in a child of God. With all your grief, bowed
into the very dust by affliction, still, like your Lord and Master,
cry, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will," and then your
prayers will be helped and not hindered.

There are cases in which prayer is very greatly hindered by a bad
temper. I do not know where this may apply, but, wherever it does, I
trust that it will go home. You cannot habitually speak sharp to
servants and children. You cannot join in a grand row or in small
squabbles and then go and pray with power. I cannot be effective in
prayer if I feel anger in my heart and I do not believe that you can,
either. Get up and go and settle the matter before you try to talk with
God, for the prayer of angry men makes God angry. You cannot wrestle
with the Angel while you are under the power of the devil. I appeal to
your own consciences–you, yourselves, shall be judges–is it not so?
That was good advice on our Lord's part–"Leave there your gift before
the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother." If that is
not done, the sacrifice cannot be accepted, nor do I see how you can
dare offer it!

I have heard of two good men who had a sharp difference with each other
in business. I do not know which was to blame–perhaps neither of
them–they might have misunderstood each other. One of them, as he
walked home very much ruffled, saw the sun going down, and the passage
occurred to him, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." He thought,
"I will go back and offer an apology, for I believe I have spoken much
too strongly." He went back towards his friend's office and half way
there he met the other coming to him on the same errand. Happy
Christians to be both so mindful of the Holy Spirit's teaching and so
like the Lord Jesus! It must be that offenses come, but blessed are
those who are foremost in removing them! Alas, men of a certain mold
cannot do this, but will keep a grudge till it rots and fills their
whole nature with its vile odors. Surely they cannot expect to be heard
in prayer while their unburied enmities pollute their souls! Endeavor,
dear Christian Friends, as much as you can, whenever you are angry, not
to sin. It is possible, for it is written, "Be you angry and sin not."

A man who has no anger in him is scarcely a man and certainly not a
good man, for he who is not angry at sin is not in love with virtue!
They say of some that they are as easy as an old shoe–and they are
generally worth no more than that article. Anger against injustice is
right, but that anger against the person which degenerates into wishing
him hurt is sinful and effectually blows out the fires of prayer. We
cannot pray for forgiveness unless we forgive the trespasses of others
against us.

Prayer can be hindered–very terribly hindered–in three ways. If we
dishonor the Father to whom we pray, or the Son through whom we pray,
or the Holy Spirit by whom we pray. I say we can dishonor the Father.
This can be done by inconsistency of life–if children of God are not
obedient to the Father's will, they must not wonder if they find it
difficult to pray. Something will rise in their throat that will choke
their pleading. You cannot pour out your heart acceptably unless you
believe in your heavenly Father. If you have harsh thoughts of God. If
you have a cold heart towards Him and a lack of reverence for His name.
If you do not believe in that great willing heart which is waiting to
bless you, your lack of love, faith and reverence will strangle your
prayers. Oh, when a man is fully at one with the great Father! When
"Abba, Father," is the very spirit of his soul! When he speaks to God
as One in whom he places implicit trust and to whose will he yields
himself up perfectly! When God's glory is his soul's delight–then he
is on a vantage ground in prayer–he will win what he wills of God. If
he is not so with God, his prayers will limp most painfully.

And, Brothers and Sisters, if we are wrong with Jesus, through whom we
pray. If we are in any measure self-righteous. If we delight in self
and forget our Beloved. If we fancy that we can do without the Savior
and if, therefore, we pray like complacent Pharisees, our prayers will
be hindered! If we are not like the Savior. If we do not make Him our
Example. If we have none of His loving spirit. If, above all, we
crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame–and if we are
ungrateful for the blessings we have already received–our prayers will
be hindered. You cannot plead in the court if you have quarreled with
your Advocate. If your prayers are not taken in hand by the great
Intercessor and offered by Him on your behalf, you will have no heart
for the sacred exercise.

So, again, with the Holy Spirit. There is never a prayer that God
accepts but the Spirit first writes it in our hearts. True prayer is
not so much our intercession as the Spirit of God making intercession
in us. Now, if we grieve the Spirit, He will not help us to pray. And
if we attempt to pray for something that is contrary to the Spirit's
holy, gracious,

loving Nature, we cannot expect Him to enable us to pray in
contradiction to the mind of God. Take care that you vex not the Spirit
of God in any way, especially by shutting your ears to His gentle
warnings, His loving calls, His earnest entreaties, His tender
monitions–for if you are deaf to the Divine Comforter, He will be
speechless to you. He will not help you to pray if you will not yield
to Him in other matters.

So then, dear Friends, I have stated to you in a hurried manner some of
the ways in which prayer may be hindered. May God grant that none of us
may be overcome by them, but we may be delivered from everything which
could mar our petitions!

III. I shall now want your earnest attention to the most important part
of all, upon which I shall endeavor to be brief. We may be HINDERED IN
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR PRAYERS. We may pray, but yet the prayer may
not be heard. And here let me interpose a remark. The Lord will hear
any man's prayer who asks for mercy through the mediation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He never despises the cry of the contrite. He is a God
ready to hear all those who seek reconciliation. But concerning other
matters it is true that God does not hear sinners–that is, while they
remain sinners He will not grant them their wishes–indeed, to do so
would encourage them in their sins! If they will repent and cry for
mercy through Jesus Christ, He will hear their cry and will save them.
But if they are not, first, reconciled to Him, their prayers are empty
wind.

A man will grant his child's request, but he does not listen to
strangers. He will listen to his friends, but not to enemies. It is not
right that the golden key which opens the caskets of Heaven should be
hung at a rebel's belt. Yet more, God does not hear all His children,
alike, or alike at all times. It is not every Believer who is mighty in
prayer. Read the 96th Psalm, and, if I remember rightly, you will find
words like these–"Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among
them that call upon His name; they called upon the Lord and He answered
them. They kept His testimonies, and the ordinances that He gave them."
Yes, he answered them–Moses, Aaron, Samuel–He answered them, for they
kept His testimonies. When children of God find that their prayers do
not succeed, they should search–and they would soon discover a reason
why their prayers are hindered.

First, there must be holy living in a Believer if his prayers are to
succeed greatly with God. Listen–"The effectual fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much." Note that point of a righteous man. Listen
to our Savior (John 15:7)– "If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in
you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." There
is an if there! If you do not do Christ's will, He will not do your
will. This is not legal! It has nothing to do with the Law, but is the
Gospel rule of Christ's house that obedience should have for its reward
power in prayer! Just as you do with your children–you have a
discipline over them–you do not turn them out of doors or give them
over to the policeman because they do amiss. But you have ways of
chastening the willful and rewarding the obedient. You are in no hurry
to grant the requests of yonder fractious boy–in fact you deny him his
request. But that other dear, gentle, loving child has only to ask and
have!

This is correct discipline and such as God exercises among us. He does
not cast off His children for sin and utterly disown them, but He
chastens them in love. And one of His chastisements lies in shutting
out their prayers. If we compare prayer to shooting with a bow, you
must have clean hands or you cannot shoot, for this bow refuses to bend
to hands polluted with unrepented sin. If a sinner prays for mercy for
Jesus' sake he shall be heard, but for general blessings it is written,
"The desire of the righteous shall be granted"–not the desire of the
wicked. First wash in the Fountain of atoning Grace and have your heart
cleansed by the Holy Spirit, or else you cannot succeed in prayer. If
anyone should tell me of a man whom God greatly answered in prayer and
then inform me that he lived in gross sin, I would not believe it! It
is impossible for God to patronize a guilty professor of religion by
giving him success in prayer! The blind man whom Jesus healed most
truly said, "If any man does His will, him He hears."

In addition to obedience there must be faith. "He that comes to God
must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him." "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he
that wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed:
let not that man expect that he shall receive anything of the Lord."
Faith "obtains promises, unbelief goes empty-handed." The Lord may give
a blessing to a doubter, but that is more than the promise, and the
doubter has no right to expect it. The prayer which avails most with
God is the prayer of one who believes that God will hear him and who,
therefore, asks with confidence. In a word, faith is the bow of prayer.
You must lay hold on the bow or you cannot shoot–and the stronger that
bow the further you can send the arrow–and the more

execution you can do with it. Without faith it is impossible to please
God in prayer or in anything else. Faith is the very backbone, sinew
and muscle of intercession.

Thirdly, there must be holy desires, or else prayer will be a failure.
And those desires must be founded on a promise. If you cannot find that
God has promised a blessing, you have no right to ask for it and no
reason to expect it. There is no use in asking money of a banker
without a check–at the counter they do not know you–they do know the
promise to pay from a check and if you present that, you will get the
amount. You must bring God's own promises to the Mercy Seat, which is
the counter of the Divine bank, and you will obtain what you need, but
only in that way. Observe, then, that faith is the bow and strong
desire fits to the string the arrow which is to be sent upward. No
arrow may be shot towards Heaven but that which came down from Heaven.
Christians take their arrows from God's quiver and when they shoot them
they shoot them with this on their lips, "Do as You have said. Remember
Your Word unto Your servant upon which You have caused me to hope." So
the successful prayer is the desire of a holy heart, sanctioned by the
promise. True prayers are like those carrier pigeons which find their
way so well–they cannot fail to go to Heaven, for it is from Heaven
that they came–they are only going home!

Furthermore, if prayer is to be effective, there must be fervor and
importunity. It is written, "The effectual fervent prayer of the
righteous man avails much." Not the dead-and-alive prayer of the mere
professor–not the prayer of one who does not care whether he is
answered or not. There must be eagerness, intensity, the pouring out of
the heart before God! The arrow must be put on the bow string and the
bow must be drawn with all our might. The best bow is of no use until
you draw it. And if you draw the bow of faith and shoot at the target
up there in Heaven, you will get what you will–only you must resolve
to have it with only this boundary–"the will of the Lord be done"–and
you will succeed.

There must be, next, a desire for God's Glory–for that is the white of
the target–and if we do not shoot towards that, the arrow will avail
nothing. We must earnestly desire what we ask because we believe it
will glorify God to give it to us. If we are wholly living unto God,
our prayers will run side by side with His purposes and none of them
will fall to the ground. "Delight yourself, also, in the Lord and He
will give you the desires of your heart." We must also have holy
expectancy or we shall hinder prayer. The man who shoots must look to
see where his arrow goes. We must direct our prayer unto God and look
up! Eyeing the Lord Jesus in all, we must look to succeed through the
merits of the Redeemer. "If we believe that He hears us, we know that
we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

Presumption in prayer shoots with the bow of self-confidence, not for
God's Glory, but for the gratification of itself, and therefore it
fails. Some have the idea that ask what they like of God, they are sure
to have it. But I would ask them, first, "Who are you?" Secondly, "What
is it you are going to seek?" And, thirdly, "What right have you to
expect it?" These inquiries must be clearly answered, otherwise prayer
may be an insult to God. I wish some Christians who pray about temporal
things would be a little careful as to how they act. When they get into
scrapes and messes by extravagance, do they expect God to get them out?

I remember hearing of a remark of good Mr. Muller, of Bristol. At a
Prayer Meeting he read a letter from a Brother who thanked him for a
gift of some 20 pounds which had arrived very Providentially, for he
owed half a year's rent. Mr. Muller remarked, "Yes, our Brother should
be very thankful. But I intend to write to him and tell him he ought
not to owe half a year's rent without being prepared to pay. And he is
acting unwisely and unjustly by not laying by in store to meet the
claim. When I took a house I said, 'This is another person's house. I
am bound to pay his rent,' and therefore week by week, as I used the
house, I put by a portion to pay what was due. I did not spend the
money and at the end of the quarter expect the heavenly Father to send
me more."

This was sound morality and common sense, and I pray you attend to it.
Pray by all means, but "owe no man anything." Daily bread is to be
prayed for, but speculations which may involve you in ruin, or make
your fortune, are not to be mentioned. If you take to gambling, you may
as well give up praying! Straightforward transactions you may pray
about, but do not get the Lord mixed up with your finances! I have been
requested to pray for a young man who has lost his job, through an
embezzlement, that he may get another place of employment. But instead
of doing so I have suggested that he should, himself, pray to be made
honest. Another who is deeply in debt wants me to pray that he may
obtain help, but I suggest that he should let his creditors have a
dividend while there is anything left. I shall not ask of my God what I
would not ask of man!

The approach to the Mercy Seat is holy ground and not to be trifled
with, or made to minister to sin. "You ask and receive not because you
ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts." If we walk
contrary to the Lord, He will walk contrary to us. And I say to every
man and woman here who is in trouble and is a Christian, take the
straight path out of it–do the right thing–and if it brings you
trouble, bear it like a man, and then go to God, and say, "Lord, I
have, by Your Grace, chosen a plain, honest path, now help me," and He
will. God grant us Grace, as Christians, to walk with God in the power
of His Spirit, resting alone on Jesus–and may He make each one of us
mighty in prayer! A man whom God has taught to pray mightily is one
with God's mind and is God's hand moving among the sons of men! When he
acts, God acts in him. He must, however, be careful and watchful, for
the Lord is a jealous God–and most jealous where He loves most.

God grant you, Brothers and Sisters, to walk humbly with God and to
live near to Him, "that your prayers be not hindered." Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Malachi 3. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK" 434 (SONG III), 1001, 994.
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