Prayer Takes Hard Work

1986

I realize that what I am saying is hard work. I know firsthand that what I am talking about is not easy. You are not going to walk out of here and just casually fall into having a dynamic prayer life. You are not going to jump to the top of Mt. Mansfield in one step. A good running start isn’t enough. You’ve just got to climb that mountain, and it’s hard work to do that. In talking about prayer Jesus said, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He was talking about prayer when He said that. The flesh is weak. It’s a hard thing to do. But He said, “I want you to anyway. Pray with Me. Wait with Me, one hour.” Now all of hell is opposing your decision to get up early tomorrow morning. Obviously, it’s going to be hard. The harder it is, the more it glorifies God when you do it. Right? The greater opportunity you have to please God—if that’s not your style to get up early in the morning. Prayer is definitely hard work.

I think about Jesus. He was having a conversation with some men one time. They said to Him, “Well, you’re not even fifty years old yet.” Anybody know how old Jesus was when they said that? Thirty-three. If you can imagine a man that’s thirty-three years old causing somebody to say, “Well, I don’t think you’re even fifty yet.” See, there’s a big difference between fifty and thirty-three, and yet they weren’t at liberty to say, “You’re not even thirty-five years old yet.” They didn’t feel that comfortable about it. Jesus worked hard when He was here on earth, and He probably showed for it. He probably labored for that. When you sweat blood, that means you’re working hard in prayer. And so it is definitely hard work, and it’s going to cost you to do that. But I want to say this to you. David said, “I won’t offer to God that which costs me nothing.” If prayer was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing. It wouldn’t mean anything to God if it were easy. “I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.” And the fact is, we want to reap these great and glorious results, but we are not willing to invest in it at times. And that’s what I would like you to do is invest in that.

If you plant a radish seed, you’re not going to reap a harvest of redwood trees. You’re going to have to work for it. You’re going to have to plant a redwood seed. I want to encourage you to learn how to bind the strong man. And I do mean learn. I want to encourage you to learn how to demolish satan’s strongholds. And I also mean learn. It’s something you do have to learn, but don’t be afraid to ask somebody. Don’t be afraid to talk about it and to weigh things. If you’re having a bad prayer life, don’t let it last because you’re losing the greatest force on the face of this earth by negligence. That’s not smart. Pursue it. Find out how to pray. Learn more about it. Ask God to give you a heart of prayer. And that’s a prayer that He can answer. Disciples came to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” It didn’t come naturally even to the apostles that had been with Him all that time. They saw His prayer life and they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Now notice they didn’t say, “Lord, teach us to sing.” They didn’t say, “Lord, even teach us to preach.” They saw the significance of what Jesus was doing. “Lord, teach us to pray.” And I want you to learn how to pray.

How important is prayer? I think you remember Jesus giving it as an identifying mark to a true church of Christ. He said, “I want to tell you how you can decide whether or not it’s a true church of Christ. My Father’s House shall be called a House of prayer.” A distinguishing mark, an earmark that’s 100% of the time true. “My Father’s House shall be called a House of prayer.” I want to offer that challenge to you, to move ahead in that realm. It happens one by one. The House consists of people, one by one. It starts with you. It doesn’t start with what everybody else is doing. It begins with you.

I think we would all agree that we all would love to have God shower blessings on us, to open up the portholes of heaven and to bless us. We would like that. Now if that’s not happening in your life, you have to ask this question: Is that God’s fault or is it your fault? John said, “I pray that you will prosper physically the same way you are prospering spiritually.” God’s intention is that we prosper physically and spiritually. If you’re not receiving any of that, if that’s not a description of your life—is it God’s fault or is it your fault? You can draw on the analogy of a farmer that doesn’t break the ground and doesn’t plant any seed, and then harvest time comes around. Does he blame God for not having a magnificent crop? We plant the seed, we water, and God gives the increase. A great big pile of seeds without God giving increase is meaningless. But to not plant seeds, apart from God and without prayer, we’re in a lot of trouble. Without investing in God, we’re not really going to be what He wants us to be.

What I’d like you to do is to make a new beginning. Maybe fast for the rest of today. Maybe you haven’t done that in a long time or maybe not ever. I challenge you to fast for the rest of the day, if you’re able, and to spend that mealtime praying instead of eating or get up early tomorrow morning. Or maybe get up early tomorrow morning and maybe fast tomorrow. “Some demons only come out by prayer and fasting.” Hebrews 4:7, “Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” If you hear the voice of God do not harden your hearts, but walk closely to God and bind up the strong man. Let’s walk victorious in this life and then be carried on the wings of angels up into another world.