For our scripture reading this afternoon, let us turn to Luke chapter 18. And there we will read the first 14 verses. Luke chapter 18, the verses one through 14. Luke chapter 18, starting at verse one. Let us hear the word of God. And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint, saying, there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, This man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Let us also turn in the Heidelberg Catechism to Lord's Day 45. On page 81, in the back of your psalters, you have Lord's Day 45. Last time we focused on the instruction of God's Word expressed in question and answer 116, and now we will come to the other questions in this Lord's Day. So let us read Lord's Day 45. Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is a chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us, and also because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only who with sincere desires continually ask them of him and are thankful for them. What are the requisites of that prayer which is acceptable to God and which he will hear? First, that we from the heart pray to the one true God only who hath manifested himself in his word and for all things he hath commanded us to ask of him. Second, that we rightly and thoroughly know our need and misery, that we may deeply humble ourselves in the presence of his divine majesty. Third, that we be fully persuaded that he, notwithstanding that we are unworthy of it, will for the sake of Christ our Lord certainly hear our prayer, as he has promised us in his word. What hath God commanded us to ask of him? All things necessary for soul and body, which Christ our Lord has comprised in that prayer he himself has taught us. What are the words of that prayer? Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Dear congregation, Allow me to begin with a very simple question. This past week, did you pray? After all, a week ago this, in the afternoon, we heard of how important prayer was. That we are able to pray as made in his image, that we are permitted to pray even though we are sinners, that we are even commanded to pray by the God who so desires to hear us pray to him. That prayer is also the way in which God gives his grace, that he gives it in answer to those who pray to him, that he delights to hear prayer and give grace. and that there's nothing richer than by His grace to be in prayer as communion with Him and fellowship with Him. Prayer was so important. But the question is not whether we nod in agreement that yes, prayer is important, but whether we are ones who pray. And maybe When you hear that question, did you pray last week? Then you say, that's a very simple question to answer. Of course we prayed. But before we answer that too quickly, we need to understand what God means by prayer. What does God call prayer? What is that prayer which God accepts as prayer? That is so important to realize, not to define prayer our own way, but to listen to the Word of God in order to understand, now what does God call prayer that is acceptable to Him? That prayer must have certain ingredients to be acceptable to him. And when I say ingredients, then you right away think of baking. If it's your birthday, children, and your mom asks you, do you want a cake? Oh, yes. What kind of cake? And you say, a chocolate cake. And a little later, it's time to have cake. And there comes your brother with something in a dish, and it's brown. And you think, there's my chocolate cake. But you look a little closer, and it doesn't really look like chocolate cake after all. And you ask him, Did you put chocolate in there? And he says, no. Did you put flour in there? He says, no. Did you put eggs in there? He says, no. What did you put in there? And he says, dirt. And you say, it's the wrong ingredients. I don't want that cake. in a far greater way. When the Lord calls us for prayer, to pray, then he desires a prayer that has the right ingredients. What are those ingredients? Let us listen. The ingredients of acceptable prayer. First, truth. Second, humility. And third, trust. The ingredients of acceptable prayer, truth, humility, trust. Some have thought, what prayer is acceptable to God? Someone had to ask, what are the ingredients? What is to characterize a prayer that is acceptable to God? People have thought many different things. Some may have think as long as you are sincere, then it is acceptable to God. I really want it, then he'll give it. Another may say if I am really eloquent in prayer and I can say all just the right beautiful words, then the Lord will hear. Another can think, if I pray long enough and I pray enough words, then the Lord will hear, that is an acceptable prayer to God. But those things, though they may all have a place, are not the essential ingredients for prayer. After all, the Lord Jesus says, the heathen think that they will be heard for their much speaking in prayer. And the Pharisees were very eloquent. long and yet their prayer was not accepted. Think Moses he really wanted to enter into the promised land. He was very sincere in asking for that and yet his prayer was not accepted. What are the essential ingredients of prayer? Not these things. That can also be encouraging. Because if prayer had to be so beautiful and eloquent, then that cry of need wouldn't be acceptable by God. The one who can only sigh wouldn't be heard if it had to be eloquent. No, the Lord gives better requirements, and the first is, the first ingredient, you can say, is that we pray, what it says here, to the one true God only, who has manifested himself in his word for all things he has commanded us to ask of him. And I've called this ingredient truth. That means, first of all, we are to pray to the one true God only. So basic, so essential. how wise and good God is that he says, don't go praying to other gods. Don't go trying to get help from other gods. Because God himself knows he is the only God and there are no other gods. And therefore he says to you and me, pray to me only. Some years ago, the minister asked to pray after President Obama's inauguration. He said, this will not be a Christian prayer, and I won't be quoting scripture or anything like that. I want all people to feel that this is their prayer. And then he said, I may address my prayer to the God of many understandings. But the God of many understandings does not exist. He's the figment of men's imaginations and he is no God. It's not the God of my understanding and the God of someone else's idea about God and of a third person and as long as we're just praying to our own gods, we're just praying to idols of our own making. It's about the living God who reveals himself in his word and who says, call upon me. who says, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. The God who says, there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. You see, prayer is a confession, thou art God alone. That's why we're so privileged. that we have the Word of God, and that in the Word of God, He shows who He is as that true and living God. We're not left like the Athenians, who had all their altars, and then they also had that one altar to the unknown God. People might come and they might pray there to the unknown God. No. God gives us his word, and he says, this is who I am. This is who you are to pray to, to me. And how we need not only that word, but also how we need, don't we, the Holy Spirit, to show us who God really is, so that our prayers would not just be saying words with our eyes closed, but that our prayers would be speaking to a God that we know as a living God. Isn't that the great work of the Holy Spirit to make God real to us? In such a way that we are convinced this God is the true and living God so that when I speak, I'm not just speaking to the air, just speaking to something out there, but I'm speaking to that living God. It says, they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth. And to pray in spirit and in truth is to pray from the heart. that has met the living God, and in truth, according as he has revealed himself, so that you see he is my maker. And as my maker, he's the one whom I'm dependent on. How can I stay away from him? He is the Almighty. How can I not lay my needs before Him? He is the Holy One whose eyes are pure. How can I try to hide any of my sin from Him? He is the gracious God. Where else will I go for grace than Him? He is the glorious God. To whom else will I bow before than Him? He is the good God. To whom else shall I give thanks than to him, the source of all good? You see, prayer is a confession of who God is, and it honors God by confessing he is the source of all things, and he is the one all glorious in himself. Prayer extols God, the true God. Congregation, is that what characterizes our prayer? that we direct it to this living God we know from the Word. And so it's a speaking to Him by His grace. Lord, teach us to pray, to pray in this way. Lord, open our eyes. to see the glory of the God we speak to in prayer. There's another aspect to this, truth. To pray in truth is not only to pray to the true God, but it's also to pray according to his word. Truth then guides what we pray for. God's Word teaches to pray for all things, we confess here, He has commanded us to ask of Him. That's why question 118 asks, well, what then does God command us to ask of Him? It says, all things necessary for soul and body, which Christ our Lord has comprised in that prayer He Himself has taught us, and that is the Lord's Prayer. It's saying that the Word of God also teaches us what to ask of Him. It does so, so that our petitions would be based on the word of God. That's why in order to pray, we must be at home in the word. To pray or write, we must be at home in the word. If the main thrust of all of scripture is the glory of God and is our salvation, then these truths are also to be central in our prayers to God. As we open the word, let us read about what God has done in the past to guide how we pray in the present. Let us search the scriptures to see what petitions he has answered and what he has denied and see when he has done so and how he has done so and for whom he has done so that it would guide our prayers today. That's why when we hear in this morning about that jailer that was converted and we see how the Lord does so, it's in order to stir up that prayer to that same God today, to do those same things today. When we open the Word of God and we also read of commands of what we are to do and what we are to be, then we also may turn those commands into petitions for God. Whenever you read a chapter, you're sure to read some command. Something about what God wills for us. Turn that command into a prayer to God. Does he say be holy for I am holy? Turn it into a prayer. Make me holy for thou art holy. Does he say rend your heart and not your garments? Turn it into a prayer. Lord rend my heart. Does he say rejoice in the Lord? Turn it into a prayer. Grant me the joy of thy salvation. Because his commands show what he desires and he desires to work all that he commands. Search the scriptures especially for the promises of God. His promises are his declarations of what he will do. and they express his willingness and his ability to perform wonders of grace. True prayer opens the word of God and you read in your daily reading what God says he will do and he will be, and you turn it back to God in prayer and say, Lord, do what thou hast said, be what thou dost say thou art. That's the purpose of the promises of God. He wants to hear us bring those words back to him. To give an example, in Hosea, there Hosea addresses a backsliding people who've gone away from God, and he says to them, you have fallen by your iniquity. There you are in your fallenness, in your sin, in your iniquity, and what are you to do? He says, return and take with you words. What words? Do I have to think up of just the right words to say? And if I can, no. The Lord says there in Hosea 14, take with you words and say, take away all iniquity and receive us graciously. So will we render the cows of our lips The living God is so concerned that truth would fill our prayers that he, as it were, gives us in his word prayers, petitions, words to bring back to him in prayer. And if we bring those words back to him in prayer, him the true God, are those not words he delights to hear? We don't have to take our own words. his word back to him. Prayers filled with truth to the true God in sincerity according to his words. You see something of that in this publican we read about in Luke 18 don't we? What did he do? He didn't go to some idol, he went into the temple Because the temple was a dwelling place of the true and living God. And there he prayed to God. God, he says. The true and only living God. Now what does he pray? Something that is so according to the word of God. Be merciful to me, a sinner. We know that's according to the word of God. because God reveals in the whole of his word. He is a God of mercy who delights to give mercy to sinners and so here we see truth in this prayer of the publican, don't we? Can I give you one other example? Martin Luther was once having supper and he looked down and he saw a puppy. A puppy was staring at him with his mouth open, hoping, waiting for him to give him something to eat. When Martin Luther saw that, he said, oh, that I would pray like that little puppy, directed to God, waiting upon God, expecting all from God, In sincerity. Truth. Together with truth comes that second ingredient and that is humility. Humility. So important as well. And where there's truth, humility will come as well. You can't separate them. Why will we pray for God to do these things, to fulfill His promises, to enable what He commands to do? Without knowing our need, we'll never seek Him, to do, to be what He says He is. Without knowing our need, we'll treat His promise of healing The way a healthy man would treat a promise of a doctor to cure his cancer, he says, thank you very much, that's very kind of you, but I have no cancer. We'll treat the promise of a man who comes and says, I'll pay off all your debts, and you say, that's very nice. But if you have no debt, you don't bring your debts to him to pay off. If we don't see our need, then we don't really pray. After all, the Lord Jesus says, the whole, those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We'll also never pray for the right things without rightly knowing our need. You see, we can be so mistaken about what we really need. We can have our own ideas, our own wishes, and our own likes. We can write, if someone were to ask you, what do you want? You could write down a list of things you want in life. And yet if you were to compare that list to the word of God, then maybe it would expose that that list is all really so selfish. and lacking on that list are the greatest needs that you have, the greatest spiritual needs that you have. To rightly and thoroughly know our need and misery is so essential to give clarity to what we pray for, that we're not just praying for little things and blind to the biggest things. What do you feel you need? What do you desire most? Who do you desire most in life? When you pray and when you pray along with others, what do you pray most urgently about? What is it? Is it what scripture says? are our greatest needs. When scripture says that by nature we are not just weak spiritually or even just sick spiritually, but that we are dead spiritually and need life spiritually, need nothing less than to be born again, to be raised to spiritual life, if we are still not born again, can we be praying just for this and that and everything else and not for our deepest need, Lord, give me life? That's my need. And if we've been raised to spiritual life, then we need the Holy Spirit to continually preserve that spiritual life. Because of ourselves, we still have that principle of death within ourselves, and left to ourselves, we sink away into spiritual life, death again. Is that also something that continually makes us pray, Lord grant life unto my soul, grant spiritual life, feed that life, refresh that life, revive that life, more life. When we open the word of God, what do we see our need is? Is it not pardon because we are born guilty and worthy of death? We are like a person on death row, sentenced to death. And how foolish it would be if we would only pray to have some nice food in that prison cell and only have a nice window to look out and to enjoy creation. And we would only have some comforts in that cell if we were not praying, Lord, pardon this sin and deliver me from this sentence of death so that I may live. you're still not saved, must that not be your greatest need, Lord, for cleansing for my soul? Wash me, Savior, or I die. That's my need. And even if we have been saved and our sins have been forgiven, do we not need to be washed every time again? Must that prayer not be daily as it is in the Lord's prayer? Lord, forgive us our debts. Lord, clear them away again and again so that I may have peace with thee and know thy favor in the Lord Jesus Christ. Know my need. What is my need? that I come short of the glory of God and God is worthy of all the glory. Is that not a need to bring us before God? Lord, I fail to honor Thee and glorify Thee in all that I am and all that I do. Lord, sanctify me, cleanse me, renew me so that I may be devoted to Thee in my life. whatever I go through, whether it's affliction or whether it's prosperity, but that I would have a single lie, thy name to glorify. That I may know my deepest need and my misery so that what's most important would also be most important in my prayer. and I would desire the right things, the most precious things, the greatest gifts that God can ever give me. But knowing my misery and need also has a sense of producing humility, that so we may deeply humble ourselves in the presence of his divine majesty. Do we realize what we do when we pray? Prayer is a coming before the divine majesty of the Living God. It's breathtaking that we as creatures come before that Creator who dwells in an inaccessible light, so pure, so bright. and that we as sin-stained creatures with a sinful heart, sinful life, we speak unto that God who is so pure that the angels cover themselves and cry, holy, holy, holy. That's no ordinary thing. That's not just let's pray a minute and let's, as if that's something you just do a minute, any ordinary matter, of course. I don't mean that you have to all of a sudden put on a totally different tone and that it's all just in the tone, but this sense of a deep reverence for this glorious God. I'm speaking to God and a humbling of ourselves before God. Isn't that what we find in this publican, this ingredient of humility? When he stands there afar off and he doesn't even dare lift his eyes unto heaven because he has this sense of shame for his sin against God, there he is humbling himself and he's not even thinking about his humility, he's thinking about his sin before the most high majesty of God. and who has that same spirit of humility. It's not just this publican who was such an ungodly, greedy man. You think of a man like Jacob, who had to confess toward the end of his life, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. Overwhelmed, not only by the majesty, but also the goodness of God. in such a way that he bows low before the Lord. Or you think of Abraham. He says, I've taken upon myself to speak unto the Lord I who am but dust and ashes. What's dust and ashes? It's nothing. And Abraham, that man of God, that man of faith, that father of all believers, that one who staggered not in unbelief, Romans says, says, I'm dust and ashes before this God because he's met the living God. Does that echo in your heart? The sense of what am I before God? Who am I to pray? The Lord knows who you are. Much better than anyone knows here, he knows that we are sinners. He knows we're guilty of ourselves. He knows we're unclean of ourselves. And therefore, he's the one who also teaches that misery, and to rightly know our need, and so to humble ourselves before his divine majesty. Where else will we go with our pride than to Him who humbles and gives this ingredient of humility to show who He is, to show who we are? Humility. You know what humility is? True humility doesn't say, oh, God is so great, and God is so holy, and I am a poor sinner, and so what's the use of me praying, and just leaves off prayer and goes away. No, true humility is bowing before this God in prayer. But you can't stay away from this God because your need is so great. And you can't do without His mercy. but not only can't do without it. You also know there's mercy with him. That's our final point. The ingredients of prayer acceptable to God are not only truth and humility, but also trust. Trust. It says here thirdly that we be fully persuaded that he, notwithstanding we are unworthy of it, will for the sake Christ our Lord certainly hear our prayer as he has promised us in his word. It's not about a cry of desperation though at times prayer can be a cry of desperation. But it is this prayer that draws you to him because you know that with him there is mercy and there is deliverance and there is outcome. Because you know that he is the God who hears and answers prayer. It's also an important ingredient. So easily we can pray and we can think, yes, I pray, but expectation. After all, don't we sing, he hears the needy when they cry. How many times haven't you sung that? He does. He says he does. And he's not a man that he should lie. He hears the needy when they cry. We sing, Lord, thou hast heard the lowly prayer. Sometimes a thought can creep in, what's the use of praying? Maybe especially after hearing those first two ingredients that must be there in prayer, that there is to be this ingredient of truth, there is to be this ingredient of humility, and you can look at your prayer, and you can see my prayers, and you're not so pleased with your prayers, and they're not so acceptable to you. And then you think, if there's not these ingredients, why would the Lord hear? Why does the Lord hear? Catechism points to two places. First, to God's promise to hear. Think, for example, of Isaiah 30. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will answer thee. Think of Psalm 50. Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. That's a promise. of the Word of God, of the God of the Word, I will deliver thee. Why? Because some people have found out exactly how to pray and just the right way and their prayers are then acceptable unto God because those prayers are such good prayers. that if you can just pray with the right ingredients, then your prayer deserves an answer. Sometimes we can think that if only I could pray in just the right way, then the Lord would hear. And what are we doing? We're putting our trust in our prayers. If only it can be just the right way, and have just the right ingredients, Then I will be able to pray just the right prayer, and then the Lord will pray, will hear. One time, I think it was George Whitefield, I forget exactly, but he said something like this. One time I prayed the Lord's Prayer, and I thought it was the best I had ever prayed. And then I realized, It was the worst I had ever prayed because it was full of pride of how well I was praying it. That sense of your basis of expectation cannot be how well you pray. I hope you never fall in love with the beauty of your prayers. The goodness of prayer is not the reason God hears prayer. If God would give us what our prayers deserve, then we would only receive hell. God hears prayer, secondly, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Why do we always pray in Jesus' name or for Jesus' sake? Children, you often hear that at the end of a prayer, for Jesus' sake. That doesn't just mean that the next word is going to be amen and then the prayer is over. That expression is so important because the only reason God can hear our prayer is for the sake, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as the Savior. Because he is the one who took on him self, what we deserve, and that is for none of our prayers to be answered, none of our cries for deliverance to be heard. He is the one who bore all the punishment of sin and all the curse of sin. He is the one who was not spared and was not delivered, but was delivered up unto the unspeakable agonies and pains of hell. as a substitute in the place of those who only deserve that, so that the Lord might deliver from that, so that the Lord may deliver from death, from sin, from hell, from all misery. And in doing so, the Lord Jesus also purchased all the grace that those who cry out unto him can ever need. He is the one who now lives as a great intercessor for transgressors, Isaiah 53 confesses. He lives right now as that intercessor who takes those sin-stained prayers, even those prayers which have been stirred up by the Holy Spirit and they're still not perfect and they're still sin-stained, even those prayers which are indeed directed to him, even those prayers that come out of a broken heart and a consciousness of sin against such a God, even those prayers are still stained with sin, but he purges them. he cleanses them and he presents them to his Father and the Father hears them and the Father answers and the Father gives for Jesus' sake. That's why it's not in vain to pray. For Jesus' sake. And it's a sight of him, such a Savior, such a sinner, gives that trust in prayer. Not trust in me, not trust in my prayer, but trust in the Savior, in the intercessor, in the mediator. It's like that publican again. There he was in the temple and he was praying and he didn't dare lift his eyes to heaven. But what was there in the temple court? There was that altar, that sacrifice. And so he could pray, God be merciful to me a sinner and looking at that sacrifice, that offering, and so he could go home justified, God heard his prayer for the sake of that sacrifice for that altar. Pleading that name, you may expect him to provide all things, not only forgiveness, not only reconciliation, not only spiritual life, but all things for soul and body. He then says, my child, Lay all your needs for body and soul before me in prayer, everything. If it's big enough to think about, it's big enough to pray about. And if it's too great to get your mind around, it's not too great to lay before him the infinite gods. Everything, large and small, for body and soul. What do you need for your soul? All you need is in Him. He says, ask and I shall give it. What do you need for your body? Again, the humility of true prayer shines here. We're not to pray for everything we would possibly want for our bodies, but all that we need. He will provide. Prayer is that humble submission, that childlike trust in God to provide in all my daily needs as I go through life, as I wake up tomorrow, and I begin a new day, and all those things await me, and I wonder how will I manage all you need. He will provide. It is mercy. Trust. Congregation, these are the ingredients of prayer that God accepts truth, humility, trust. All three. And maybe that gives guidance also to someone this afternoon who says, I've prayed. I've prayed every day. And the Lord hasn't heard. I've done my duty. I've done my part. and the Lord hasn't heard. And you can think, well, God isn't true to his word. In light of what God teaches, prayer really is. Directed to him, the living God, in humility before him, in trust in him, with your whole heart. Then maybe you have to ask, have I ever really prayed at all? There was once a boy who was taught to pray a prayer and he prayed it every night until he was 73 years old. He was quite satisfied that he had prayed every night. Then God awakened him and showed him his sin and his emptiness of his form of religion and led him to him in true conversion. And he later said, I'm the old man who said his prayers for 70 years and yet all that time never prayed at all. See the difference between saying your prayers and praying. And maybe someone here has to admit that I've said my prayers, but not prayed. In this way, where is that to lead you this afternoon? Not to think, well then I don't have the right ingredients, so then there's no use to present my prayers to God. God won't hear them after all. After all, they're just dirt and he will not accept it. It's true, scripture says, he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. It's true. And therefore, if your heart is not submissive to him, your very prayers are reasons for God to condemn you. But will you then stop praying? Proverbs 15 also says, the way of the wicked is abomination. Will you then not do anything? Go anywhere. Proverbs 21 says, the plowing of the wicked is sin. Will you then not work? Because after all, it's sin. Titus 1 says, to the unbelieving, nothing is pure. And yet you do these things, don't you? All this reality is only to drive you out to prayer. drive you out to God this day to plead for mercy. You don't need to know that these ingredients are in your heart before you pray. If you feel you have no humility, then go to him for humility. And if you feel you have no trust, go to him for trust, because he is the source of all this grace and all these ingredients of true prayer that is acceptable to him. You'll receive it nowhere else than from him who says, call upon me. Do you know what he says in Ezekiel 36? There he says, I will take the heart of stone and I will give a heart of flesh. I will take the heart that just says its prayers and it's a heart of stone and I'll give a heart of flesh that beats with prayer to God. Well, you say, well, if God says he will do that, then we wait and see if he does that. At the end of that chapter, he says, I will be inquired of to do it. I will be asked to do that. By who? By those who have a hard heart, but they don't have the right ingredients. Away with that all. He says, I will be asked to do it. Where else will you go with your hard heart than to this God? Do you see how this thrusts us on the God of grace alone? And maybe hearing these very ingredients exposes you to rightly know your need to bring you to God this afternoon for his grace. And that's not only if our prayers have always only been formal, but even if we are believers. And yet you can find it discouraging to hear what prayer ought to really be. When you look at your own prayers and you compare them to how it ought to be, then that can be discouraging. Your prayers are so different from what they ought to be. Too often they can just be words. Too often there isn't that trembling before his word, and there is not that childlike confidence in him, and all those other things. Someone once came to his pastor, child of God, and said, I find it so hard to pray. He said, go to your prayer closet, however cold and dark your heart may be, and tell it to the Lord. Tell him that he sees in what sad state your heart is right now, that your only hope is in him. He said, trust him. With a childlike trust to have mercy on him and wait upon him. That's actually the posture of prayer. Exactly when you feel you so lack these ingredients, if it humbles you before him and it drives you out to him and that you know he and he alone is a source of grace and you can only plead the merits and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's prayer. Prayer to God. and as he hears, and as he gives grace, then your focus is not your humility, but his majesty and your sin. The focus is not your truthfulness, but his faithfulness. And the focus is not your trust, but his trustworthiness, his goodness, his grace that draws you out to prayer. The best times in prayer is when you lose sight of how you're praying and you're filled with Him, the God of majesty, the God of grace, the only living God. Amen.