Prayer Is The Key To Heaven

• The red-necks who lived in that region.

• And some of the strong brew they made in that area.

The man who was driving from that region said, “Yes, I have lived here all my life and we make some strong brew, If I must say so myself.”

The man stated he had some of that strong brew and asked the young man if he would like to take a drink.

The young man stated he never touched the stuffed and refused. However, the old man persisted. Each time he offered the young man a drink, he would turn him down.

He soon took offence to him turning him down and pulled out a pistol and aimed it at his head and said, “I said, now take a drink.”

The young man took a drink and immediately began to choke on the strong brew, and said, “HOW CAN ANYONE DRINK THAT STUFF?”

Then the driver handed him the pistol and said, “Now aim the pistol at my head and make me take a drink!”

I hope that you have come into this service with a willing heart to receive the Word of God because Iam going to be preaching on PRAYER IS THE KEY TO HEAVEN.

This passage of scripture today deals with something that affects everyone of us.

Everyone here has to deal with:

• Pain.

• Diseases.

• Divorce.

• Death.

• Sickness.

• Disappointments.

• Immorality.

• Greed.

• Loneliness

• And etc.

All of these things are a part of our lives.

The question is how DO WE DEAL WITH THESE THINGS IN PRAYER?

I would like to show you three things in this passage of scripture. First, let us look at:

I. A POSSIBILITY

Look at James 1:5a. James says, “If any of you lack wisdom...”

Every day in life we need wisdom to solve problems that confront us.

Illus: Makes me think of the bus driver that had the wisdom of Solomon.

Two women in a bus were fighting bitterly over the last seat available.

• The conductor already tried to intervene but to no avail.

• So the driver shouted, "Let the ugly one take the seat!"

• Both women stood for the rest of the journey.

Even animals need WISDOM to survive!

Illus: A cruel pet owner abandons his old dog in the deepest jungles of Africa. Wandering around, the poor old dog notices a leopard coming rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

• Just then, the old dog noticed some bones laying on the ground close by. The dog immediately settles down to chew on the bones turning his back to the approaching leopard.

• Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dog loudly says: "My, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

• Hearing this, the leopard slinks away. "That was too close," thought the leopard, "that dog nearly had me."

• Meanwhile, a mischievous monkey had observed the entire scene, and decided to cause trouble for the dog, while getting on the good side of the leopard as well.

• The monkey dashed off after the leopard, to tell him what truly happened.

• The dog saw the monkey dash off, and suspiciously tailed him from behind.

• He overhears the monkey spilling the beans, and quickly decides on a course of action, racing back to the pile of bones.

• At the same time, the leopard has decided to take care of the dog once and for all.

• The monkey hops on the leopard's back, to watch the demise of the doomed dog.

• As the leopard approaches, he can hear the dog talking to himself.

• "Where's that lazy monkey? I sent him off half an hour ago for another leopard, and he's still not back!"

A lot of folks stay in trouble because they lack wisdom of God to survive.

Notice, this passage starts off with the little word “If”.

James is being kind, there is no doubt about it, we all face things in our life that we do not have the slightest idea of how to deal with them.

In fact, we often hear people say, “I do not know what to do!” And they do not know!

? The Word of God says the first thing we should do is to turn to God for WISDOM.

? Notice, he does not say we are to turn to God for KNOWLEDGE!

DO YOU KNOW WHY?

Illus: Knowledge is the ability to take things apart, while wisdom is the ability to put them together.

That is, when you talk with them about the problems of life, it is obvious that they have grasped the facts of life. They understand what the problem is, but the truth is, they do not know what to do with the problem.