And she came to him, saying, Get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? Amen. Well, this evening we come to our final study in this series on prayer. And when I say final study, I don't want you to think that we've concluded the subject. We've only really just begun. But at the moment, this is our final study. And we're looking at a question that seeks to wrap up a few loose ends, really. What errors must we avoid in prayer? So far, we've looked at three. First, confident prayer is not demanding prayer. Yes, when we come into the presence of God, we come with faith. We come confident that he will hear and he will answer and he will bless us because he's promised to and because he's faithful. But coming confidently is not the same as coming with demands. We never ever make demands of God. We can never ever insist on anything from God. He is God and we are sinners. There is nothing we can insist on, nothing we can demand. We come humbly always and we come only confident in Him, not in ourselves. So confident prayer is not demanding prayer. Second, prayer is not a narcotic. Prayer is not something we do to make ourselves feel better. Prayer is not a drug that we pep ourselves up with and give ourselves a bit of a boost with. Now thank God, prayer is a great means of grace. What blessing comes through prayer? Oh yes, God pours into our lives tremendous mercies and kindnesses through prayer and we've already seen that. But that is not the same. as praying in order to feel better. No, prayer is communion with God. Prayer is so much more than just the Christian version of yoga or TM. So prayer is not a narcotic, we must remember that. Third, prayer is not getting what we want. We don't come to God In order to get what we want, we come to God in order to secure what He wants. It's His will that counts, not ours. And that is a big mistake that we must avoid in prayer. Well, this evening I want us to look at two more errors, and we'll spend most of our time on the first of these two. The fourth error is We must avoid extremes in prayer. We must avoid extremes. In every aspect of the Christian life, one of the devil's most effective tactics is to push us to an extreme. To take good things and make them too big, so that we go too far with them. Let me give you some examples. It's good to be committed to the church. It's good to be committed to the work of the church. It's good to be involved in the activities and life of the church. Of course it is good. In fact, it's essential that every Christian is using his gifts in the church for the glory of God. But what if our activities in the church cause us to neglect our families? Is that good? No, no, of course. If what we're doing in one sphere of duty and service causes us to neglect another, then we've become imbalanced Christians. We've gone to an extreme and we're doing harm. Or another example, it is good to care little for the material things of this life. It is good to be able to say, I don't love money. Look at my life, you can see it. I don't care about money. I don't care about possessions. It's obvious. That's a good thing, isn't it? A good testimony for a Christian to have. But what if he becomes so careless about money that he gets into debt? What if he becomes so careless about money that he makes himself vulnerable and people start stealing from him and cheating him and he's not even aware of it. And he becomes the butt of people's jokes. Is that a good thing? No, he's taken something that's good and he's gone to an extreme with it and it's become evil. And that's what the devil does all the time. Just one more example. It's good to be committed to caring for our children. It's good to be a responsible parent and to love our children and to bring them up with care and to give them time and energy and commitment. Of course it is good. But is it good to live for your children? Is it good to work out all your hopes and dreams and fears through your children? Is it good to invest everything in them? Isn't God supposed to be the Lord of our lives, not our children. You see, you take a good thing, you go to an extreme with it, it becomes evil. And that's what the devil tries to do with our prayer lives. He tries to take good things and push us to an extreme with it so that it becomes evil, so that it actually ends up doing us harm. I want to focus particularly on one area of extremes. It's the extreme on the one hand of disciplined prayer and the extreme on the other hand of spontaneous prayer. That's what I want us to spend a bit of time on. It's good to be disciplined in prayer, isn't it? It's good. In Galatians 5 we read about the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, Self-control. Do you remember when we studied the fruit of the Spirit some time ago now? We saw that self-control is like the basket in which all the other fruits are placed. You lose self-control and love will quickly dissipate away. Joy will disappear. Peace will go. You've got to have self-control to keep all the other fruits together. Without discipline, you won't have any prayer life at all. Discipline is crucial. Discipline in the whole of your Christian life is absolutely essential. For example, Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, there describes the Christian life as a marathon run. And he says when you're running this marathon of the Christian life, you have to run it as though there was only one prize. Run the Christian life as though at the end of it only one person attains heaven. That's what he says. 1 Corinthians 9 24. Run the Christian life with such devotion, such commitment, such self-discipline, such zeal that people looking at you would think that if you didn't get to the end of the race first you'd never attain heaven. He goes on. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate. That means self-controlled. Everyone who competes for the prize is self-controlled in all things. That's how you win a marathon, says Paul, isn't it? You go through the pain barrier. I remember when my brother ran the New York marathon. Is it 26 miles or something? How do you do that? Anyway, three quarters of the way through this marathon, after six months of training, he collapses with cramp. Can you believe it? You know, he's nearly finished the thing. But when you've got the desire to go on, it's amazing what you can do. Somehow he managed to get himself up and carry on and finish the race. He came, I don't know, 4,000 and something, which was pretty good. It was in the top half of the results. But in order to run a marathon race, you have to keep on going and keep on going and pick yourself up when you stumble, fall, get cramp, whatever it may be. And you have to tell your body, I don't care if you're screaming at me, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. I say, carry on, carry on, carry on. You've got to have that self-discipline. Now, that's what Paul is saying. And without that self-discipline, you'll never finish the Christian life. So he concludes, verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 9, I discipline my body. Bring it into subjection less when I have preached to others. I myself should be disqualified Preaching is good, but all the preaching in the world will not save me I've got to run this race and finish this race and So I'm seriously into self-control says Paul It's good to be disciplined and it's good to be disciplined about our praying and Do you remember Daniel in chapter 6 when the decree was made that nobody should pray to any God but the King? What do we read Daniel did? Daniel 6 verse 10. When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since early days. I think that phrase is great, isn't it? As was his custom since early days. Here was a man who prayed in the morning, in the middle of the day, and at night, every single day without fail. He was a man of self-discipline and it was that self-discipline that kept him praying even when the king said, you keep on praying and you're for it. Daniel was self-controlled and it's that self-control that kept him praying. The psalmist was exactly the same. In Psalm 55 verse 17 we read, evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice." So David, in his time of need, Daniel, in his time of need, engaged in constant prayer. How? Because of self-discipline. That's good. It's good to be directed in prayer by the Word of God. We've seen that, haven't we? Scripture should direct our praying. But in order for Scripture to direct our praying we have to be self-controlled, we have to be disciplined about reading the Scripture systematically and making sure that the word for the day guides how we pray. That's hard work. It's good also to keep a prayer list. Why is it good to keep a prayer list? A list of names, situations, needs. It's good to do it as a part of our self-control, to make sure that we're not just praying for the same people every single day. It's also good to have a prayer list to make sure that you keep your promises. When you meet somebody who's in need and you talk to them and you find out that they have this difficulty or that problem, What is it that you say to them when you finish the conversation? I'll pray for you. That's what you say, isn't it? I'll pray for you. Do you pray for them? Do you? All of them? And do you keep on praying for them? I wonder. Do you know when you say to somebody I'll pray for you and you go away and you don't, you've just lied to them. You've lied to them about The greatest assurance you could ever make to them. Do you want to be a person who doesn't keep your word on the most important thing in your life? How can you make sure that you remember to pray for that person? You've got to write it down unless you've got a photographic memory. Unless you've got the ability to call to mind every single day all the people for whom you need to pray, then you need to write them down. And unless you've got six hours every day for prayer, you need to make sure that there are particular people you will pray for on particular days. We should be praying for all of our neighbours. Jesus says, love your neighbour as yourself. Well, the first thing you need to do for somebody you love is to pray for them. So you've got to pray for all your neighbours. Now who is your neighbour? Not every single person in the world. That's wrong. You can't pray for every single person in the world. Your neighbour is all the people in your life with whom you have to do, with whom you have relationships. You should be praying for them all. Yes, you should be praying for your immediate neighbours around you, the people you talk to when you go out and you come home. You should be praying for the shopkeepers you know well. You should be praying for the joiner and for the plumber and for the cleaner who come to your house or your workplace and who you chat with. These are your neighbours, you've got to pray for them all. Now how are you going to do that unless you have discipline? It's important also to have a prayer list to maintain balance in your prayer. Some of us would never pray for anything outside our own immediate family and situation unless we had it on a list. Others would neglect our immediate situation and be praying all the time for Kenya and New Guinea and South America and never pray for anybody near at hand. We have to make sure that we have a balanced prayer life that covers things overseas, things at home, Things in the country at large, things in our own families, etc, etc. How are you going to do that unless you have a prayer list? It's good to be disciplined in prayer. Disciplined about the times, disciplined about being directed through the Word of God, disciplined in terms of whom we pray for each day. This is good. But, though it is good to be disciplined, We need to guard against the extreme of it, don't we? To guard against the extreme of turning our prayer life into mere routine. An activity that we do each day and tick off on the list. It's so easy for prayer to become a vain repetition in the sense of a liturgical mantra. like the monks in the monastery, repeating the Latin phrases over and over and over and over and over and over again. They may get up at 5 a.m. and go right through till 11 p.m. with their praying and their devotions, but we know it's meaningless, don't we? Why? Because they're just repeating the same words and passing the beads along as they say their Hail Mary, Mother of God, however many hundreds of times, we know it's empty. But doesn't our praying become just the same sometimes? Well, we may not say, Hail Mary, Mother of God, or repeat some fancy Latin prayer. We have our evangelical language. It may be well scattered with scripture. It may sound good. Trouble is, it's what we prayed yesterday, and the day before, and the day, and the day, and the day before that, and it's what we'll be praying tomorrow. Because all we do in prayer is repeat the evangelical mantra. And we tap our bead across and say, done that. It's no good, is it? How are you going to get out of that by having something meaningful in your praying? Discipline alone is not enough. And we must remember also that prayer must never be confined to appointed times. Appointed times are important. Three times a day, twice a day, once a day, whatever it may be, we need those times. But if we only ever pray at those times, are we praying at all? Don't we need God's help all the time? Shouldn't we be communing with God all the time, wherever we are, whatever we're doing? Haven't we sung that prayer is the Christian's vital breath, the Christian's native air? Well, can you imagine kneeling by your bed in the morning and thinking to yourself, right, in the next half hour, I've got to get a lot of air in my lungs because it's got to last me the day. So I'm really going to work at it and get these lungs going so that I can survive the rest of the day without another breath. It's a nonsense, isn't it? You have that time in the morning or whenever it may be, and it's crucially important But it's not alone. You then move into your day with an attitude of prayer, breathing prayer, depending on God, looking to God in all things. That discipline is not enough. Prayer must not become a mere trotting out of scriptures and names and needs and requests. It's communion with God, isn't it, prayer? That's what it is. Imagine having a relationship with your husband or wife where all you did every day was to say the same thing to them. They were very profound words. They were words that you learned listening to other people and they sounded absolutely mint. In fact, anybody who listened to them on one off occasion would say, they've got some relationship going. What they don't know is that you said the same thing the day before and the day before and the day before. It's dead. It's meaningless. The relationship's finished already. What kind of relationship do we have with God if we just repeat the same words? No, no, prayer must never be something we do, like the washing up or the ironing. The washing up is something you do, isn't it? It's there all piled up, wretched stuff. In the sink it goes, you wash it round. Put it on the drying board, you dry it up, and then at the end you look at the kitchen, it's clean, you say, amen, it's done, it's finished. Some Christians treat prayer like that. I've got to do my prayers now. You go to it, you read your Bible, you say your prayers, you get up, you say, it's done, excellent, ready for the day now, off I go. That's ticking your box, it's not prayer. Prayer is what we are. Prayer is our relationship with God. Prayer has to be real. So if we take the discipline of prayer to an extreme, we don't have prayer at all. Do you see how clever Satan is? But then there's the other extreme. The extreme of what we might call total spontaneity. Now as we've said, it's good to be spontaneous in prayer. It's good to cry out to God on the spur of the moment. It's good to plead with God for help in a time of crisis or need. We've seen Nehemiah in chapter 2, pleading with God before he speaks to the king. Just in that split moment, we call it the arrow prayer, don't we? It's good to pray like that. It's good to come to the throne of grace in your hour of need, Hebrews 4, 14 to 16. And know that Jesus is sitting on that throne, ready to hear, ready to answer, at that very moment. That's real, isn't it? That's meaningful. It's wonderful. And it's good. It's good to pray in that kind of way. It's good to pray as you work. It's good to pray as you travel, as you walk, as you rest, whatever you're doing, to breathe the presence of God, to depend on Him in everything. That's good. It's good to respond to God out of the circumstances of your life. to appeal to Him from your hearts, recognising that God is sovereign and He's looking after you in all things. This kind of spontaneity is something we desperately need. But, and it's a very, very big but, especially today, though it's good to be spontaneous, We need to guard against the extreme because extreme spontaneity in prayer, or actually in any part of our Christian lives, is going to turn us into fleshly, careless and irreverent Christians. And we don't want to pray in a fleshly, careless or irreverent way, do we? Our praying must never become a mere chat with God as we go through the day. Prayer is never a chat with God, a relaxed chinwag with God. No, no, no. God is the awesome sovereign Lord. He never changes. Our God is the God who consumed Nadab and Abihu for bringing profane fire before the God, before him in the tabernacle. Our God is the God who said Achan and his whole family must be stoned to death for their crime. Our God is a God who struck Uzzah dead for steadying the ark with his hand and breaking God's law in that way. This is our God. He's a holy God. He's an awesome God. He's a righteous God, a pure God. He's the Lord, God, and King. And when we come into his presence, we always must come with humility. We've already said this. But you can't be humble in the presence of God if you're chatty with him. If you think of him like a pal or a friend who's on the same level as you. God is not on the same level as us. And this is a great danger today. But because we believe in spontaneity, and that's right, we take it to its extreme. And we begin to think that God is altogether like us. And the psalmist says, you're wrong. Be careful in case he tears you in pieces. That's the God that we worship. That's why as we saw last week, Ezra in chapter 9, when he prayed on that occasion, it was just confession on his face before God. What kind of praying is spontaneous prayer? In our spontaneous praying throughout the day, do we ever come to God with confession of sin? No, prayer should not be guided exclusively by our environment, should it? What's going to happen If you abandon the discipline prayer, which we've spoken of, and go exclusively for this spontaneous kind of praying, what's going to happen is that in a very short time, your flesh will dictate your prayer life. Your flesh is there all the time, isn't it? You can't get away from it. And as you live in your life through each day, Your flesh is interacting with the world. It's your flesh that feels things, smells things, hears things, sees things, experiences things, and takes it all in. Now what's going to happen if your relationship with God is dictated entirely by how you see, how you feel, how you touch, how you smell? Your relationship with God is going to become earthly, fleshly, dominated by the immediate context of your life. And that's very dangerous. Isn't that why today so much praying is about earthly things and not heavenly things? So much praying is about fleshly things and not spiritual things? No, we thank God, God's interested in everything about us. We've seen that, haven't we, in our studies. Yes, He is concerned when we are sick. Yes, He is concerned when we've got financial problems. Yes, He is concerned when we've got difficulties in our workplaces, or whatever it may be. But you read the prayers of Scripture, go over the last 15 studies, and look at the prayers of Scripture we've seen, and what is it that dominates every single one of them? Spiritual needs. The Kingdom of God. Heaven, eternity, sin, death, judgement, God, glory. That's what dominates the prayers. In fact you struggle to find anything fleshly in them at all. Remember when we looked at the question, for what must we pray? Our Father in Heaven. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's what we pray for, and only then do we pray, give us this day our daily bread. And when we've prayed that, we go back to the serious matter of forgiveness for our sins, of deliverance from the power of Satan, of God getting all the glory forever and ever. One small line concerning the earthly things. They matter, but they've got to be kept in place. Now, that's only going to happen through disciplined praying, through fixing our minds on the Word of God and allowing Him to tell us what matters. Yes, you pray for members of your family who are sick and are in need, but firstly, pray for their spiritual well-being, even though they may be sick and in need. See, if you engage in spontaneous praying only, you'll only ever pray for fleshly needs, for immediate needs, and for needs that you feel. Just think about the consequences of that. Think about the consequences of it in the church here. If you engage in that kind of praying, you'll only ever pray for people who say they are in need. Well, will you ever pray for somebody who hasn't been sick for 10 years and who hasn't undergone any spiritual backsliding for 10 years? Are you saying you don't need to pray for them? I seriously hope not. We should be praying for everybody, as we've already said. We should be praying, as it were, as evenly as possible. Why do we think that the person who is sick at home is in greater need than the person who is sitting under the ministry of God's word. How do you know? How do you know what's going on in the heart of the person behind you or in front of you or on your left or right? How do you know what their spiritual condition is? We've seen people in this church falling away from God. People that we were surprised about. Did we pray enough for them? Did we think they were strong or okay? You see, we have to pray in a disciplined kind of way. Another point concerning this spontaneous praying, it's an ironic point. Total spontaneity can lead us effectively to vain repetition as total structure. It's interesting in life, isn't it, how two wide extremes can often take you to the same point. It happens in a lot of things in life, doesn't it? Well that happens with those who are totally disciplined in prayer, like the monks in the monastery, they just repeat that prayer every day. Well what about those who are totally spontaneous in prayer and throw away all discipline altogether? What kind of praying do they pray? I tell you, listen to them. You'll find they pray the same prayer all the time. because it's coming from their own heart dictated by what they want and by their environment and the particular needs. So you'll find that the same prayers are prayed with the same words because there's no structure from God coming into their prayer lives. Without order and structure, prayer can so easily be a repetition of the same ideas and phrases over and over again. So what am I saying? I'm saying we need to avoid the extremes. We need to have a wonderful, happy marriage of discipline and spontaneity. We need to bring them together and make sure that we keep them together because they belong together. Now John Piper has a very, very helpful comment on the need for this balance. Let me read it to you. Continual communion with God in his word is important. The upright man of Psalm 1 meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. We might have said meditates without ceasing. But this continual spontaneous communion with God by his word depends in part on plan and discipline. In other words, if there are no set and disciplined times of Bible reading and meditation and memorization, the spontaneity and continual communion will dry up. The plants of spontaneous communion grow in the well-tended garden of disciplined Bible reading and memorization. And that's how it is with prayer. We are told to pray without ceasing. We may do it anywhere, anytime. It is the air we breathe. But that will cease to be the case if there are no disciplined times set aside for prayer and a plan to keep them. If you want to have a vital hour by hour spontaneous walk with God you must also have disciplined regular meetings with God for prayer. A husband who says he never has special times alone with his wife because the daily air is charged with intimacy. He will not long breathe that air. The plants of ceaseless prayer grow in the garden of persistent discipline. That's a great helpful picture isn't it. The plants of ceaseless prayer grow in the garden of persistent discipline. We must avoid the extremes. Well our final point and I said I would be brief and I will. Avoid excuses not to pray. Avoid excuses not to pray. The devil does not want you to pray. Listen to John Newton. Forsaking prayer, we cease to fight. Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright, and Satan trembles. when he sees the weakest saints upon their knees. I wonder if you believe that. I wonder if you believe it. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saints upon their knees. Is that true? Paul, when he's speaking about the Christian armour in Ephesians 6, he describes all the bits of the armour, doesn't he? The breastplate you've got to put on, the sandals, the girdle, the sword, all individual bits of the armour. But when he comes to the concluding piece of armour, he can't think of anything that's suitable to liken it to. So he simply says in verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. That's the final weapon. It's the weapon of all prayer. Everything has to be saturated in prayer. We must pray always, continually, ceaselessly, watchfully. Prayer is the most important activity of our Christian lives. Prayer is the foundation of all our spirituality. Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright and Satan trembles. Satan trembles even when he sees the weakest saints upon their knees. Why? Why is that? Why should Satan tremble at a weakling Christian, a pathetic Christian on his knees? Maybe you think you're one of them. Well, why would Satan tremble at you when you're praying? I'll tell you why. Because the power of your praying doesn't depend on you, does it? It depends on the power of God. And whether it's the weakest saint praying or the mightiest saint praying, they're praying to the same God. And the power of that God is not affected by the godliness of the saint. God is the same God. And so Satan trembles. Whether it's a mighty godly saint on his knees or whether it's a weak, frail saint who's just sinned again on his knees, he trembles just the same. Did you know that? That's what Newton's saying and his theology is spot on. If only you believed it, then you might be well armed against Satan's attacks and attempts to disarm you. He wants to take from you the weapon of prayer, and He will do anything to get it off you. The trouble is, and we should be ashamed of it, that very often He doesn't find it difficult at all, does He? You don't need to pray, says Satan. Not just now, not just at the moment. I'm sure you can get by this morning without prayer and come to it later. You can't be expected to pray. The pastor, he doesn't know your life. He doesn't know how hard things are, how pressured it is as a young mother with all those children, how difficult my working life is, and what the pressures are when I get home. He doesn't understand that, but you understand it, I understand it. We'll keep the secret. You can't be expected to pray. You're too tired to pray. Oh yes, too tired. I mean, there you are. You're trying to pray. You're a sincere Christian and you're really trying. And that's what God expects, isn't it? He doesn't expect more than that. He doesn't expect you to do more than to try. And you've tried. You have tried to pray, but you can't, can you? I mean, your eyelids are closing and you're so weary and your mind is filled with the troubles of the day. And well, to be honest, it's just dishonouring to God to pray like that, isn't it, really? So best thing to do is to go to bed and pray later. And you're too busy to pray anyway. There's simply too much in your schedule to fit prayer in just at the moment. And we mustn't be legalists, must we? The devil loves that one. We mustn't be legalists about this praying every day. Who says you must pray every day? Show me the scripture where it says you must pray at 8 o'clock every day or 7 o'clock every day. It's not there in the Bible is it? Of course it isn't because those unreasonable church leaders are trying to put false guilt onto your heart. Now you can throw that guilt off Pray when you can pray and nobody expects more than that and you're just so busy at the moment, things may be a bit easier in a few days, weeks, years, whatever it may be. Too busy to pray. You can pray more effectively later, of course, can't you? Because what you need to do is effective praying. I mean, amount of praying, that's not what it's about, is it? Effective praying. You need to pray when your mind is razor sharp. When you can really cut into the issues. When you can really think clearly. When you can really honour God in your praying. Oh yes, that's when you must pray. So a little more sleep, a little more rest. A little more recreation, a little more exercise. A little more activity of this or that or the other. Then you'll be able to pray effectively later. You're a hypocrite in prayer, aren't you? You little hypocrite, says the devil. I mean, there you are, praying about these things. Do you really care? Are you really bothered? Oh, there's your list. And you're reading from your list. It's dry, isn't it? Your heart's not in it. Throw it away. God prefers an honest, silent person to a hypocrite who prays. So just keep quiet for now. When you've sorted it out, maybe then you can pray later. To be honest, you're not worthy to pray, are you? You're not worthy. Who are you to come into the presence of God? You've been hearing a lot about that, haven't you? You don't want to be guilty of this, tripping into the presence of God or treating God lightly. No, no, no, no, no. And how can you come into the presence of God with these sins, and these failings, and these inadequacies? You're not worthy to pray. So just keep quiet for now, and maybe you can come to pray later. You're too ignorant to pray. Yes, you're too ignorant to pray. You listen to those people praying in the prayer meeting, and that's why you don't pray, isn't it? Because you're too ignorant, your prayer will sound stupid. People will think, what a spiritual pygmy. What weak words. Well, that's not honouring to God, is it, to be a spiritual pygmy and put it on display? Just keep it quiet. Let them think you're praying in your heart silently. That appears more holy, doesn't it? That appears more, well, just more convincing, really. Especially if you keep your head down at the end of the prayer meeting for a bit longer than everybody else. You're too ignorant to pray. Give it another few years, maybe when you've built up your knowledge and understanding and heard a few more prayers, and you're able to pray more convincingly, later. Pray later. Of course you must pray later. Praying is important, but not now, later. You're too young to pray now anyway. It's not honouring to God for these youngsters to be praying in the prayer meeting. Yeah, anyway, why do you want to pray in the prayer meeting? You're just, you're just proud. Show off. No, no, God doesn't want proud people. Best keep silent. Best pray later. They're just a few, aren't they? The devil's an expert. He knows your heart. He knows your mind. He knows how you think. He knows theology better than you do. He knows the Bible better than you do. and he will twist and distort and contort everything just to make sure that you don't pray. Can I tell you this? It is never, never, never the right thing not to pray, never. If you've committed the same sin a thousand times in the same day, then you need to pray for forgiveness. And God will receive you if you come humbly. If you're ignorant and you know little theology, then you need to pray because God will see your heart and honour you for being willing to be seen as a fool for the sake of God. And because you're hungry for His glory, not for the honour of men. You know you're not worthy to pray. That's the only qualification. If you ever think you're worthy to pray, then you can't pray anyway. Unworthiness is required. So when the devil throws that one at you, say, thank you. That's my cue for prayer. If you come to God in the right spirit, if you come to God in the right longing for his glory, then you can't dishonour Him in prayer. Even if you have to get up off your seat and walk up and down the room or take a walk outside in the minus one air at nine o'clock at night to keep yourself awake, do it to pray. Souls depend on it. The filling up of heaven depends on it. The emptying of hell depends on it. The glory of God depends on it. You've got to pray. You've got to pray. I could continue. But if you're not convinced, then get this series on prayer and listen to it again and pray that God will convince you that you must pray. You must pray. But let me conclude this series with four quotes just to give you some encouragement and a challenge and a little bit of entertainment as well in the first one. Martin Luther, the great reformer, he had a favorite barber that he went to visit. And on one occasion when he was visiting his barber, his barber asked him, Mr. Luther, how do you pray? Well, the barber got more than he bargained for, a 40-page pamphlet in response. I shan't read it all, but let me read this bit to you. A good clever barber must have his thoughts, minds and eyes concentrated upon the razor and the beard and never forget where he is in his stroke and shave. If he keeps talking or looking around or thinking of something else, he's likely to cut a man's mouth or nose or even his throat. So anything that is to be done well ought to occupy the whole man with all his faculties and members. As the saying goes, he who thinks of many things thinks of nothing and accomplishes no good. How much more must prayer possess the heart exclusively and completely if it is to be real prayer? He goes on, it is a good thing to let prayer be the first business in the morning and the last in the evening. Guard yourself against such false and deceitful thoughts that keep whispering, wait a while. In an hour or so, I will pray. I must finish this or that. Thinking such thoughts, we get away from prayer into other things that will hold us and involve us till the prayer of the day comes to nothing. I wrote that nearly 500 years ago. It's amazing. Nothing changes, does it? Just the same today. This is John Piper speaking to pastors. This is his appeal. How we need to wake up to how much nothing we spend our time doing. Apart from prayer, all our scurrying about, all our talking, all our study amounts to nothing. For most of us, the voice of self-reliance is ten times louder than the bell that tolls for the hours of prayer. The voice cries out, you must open the mail. You must make that call. You must write this sermon. You must prepare for that meeting. You must go to the hospital. but the bell tolls softly. Without me, you can do nothing. These are the words of A.C. Dixon. When we depend upon organisations, we get what organisations can do. When we depend upon education, we get what education can do. When we depend upon man, we get what man can do. But when we depend upon prayer, We get what God can do. Amen. And finally, listen to the famous Scottish man, A. A. Bonner. Oh brother, pray. In spite of Satan, pray. Spend hours in prayer. Rather neglect friends than not pray. Rather fast and lose breakfast, dinner, tea and supper and sleep too than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer. We must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber. Well, let us not be slumbering when our Lord returns. Amen.