Would you turn to James chapter 4? James chapter 4. We’re continuing our message—or our series of messages—in the book of James. James chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. I’ll wait for, just a moment, until you find it. All right, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:1–2). Just underscore that phrase, “yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”
I want us to think this morning on this subject, “Victorious Prayer.” If there’s anything that I need to do—that you need to do, that we need to do, that everyone needs to do— it is to learn how to pray. The man who can pray can do anything, for prayer can do anything that God can do, and God can do anything. And, our desperate need in these days is to link our lives with the omnipotent God who has called upon us and told us to pray. And, Jesus said, “ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:24). And, James says, “you have not, because you ask not.”
You don’t have a failure in your life, but what it is a prayer failure? You don’t have a sin in your life, but what prayer could have prevented that sin? You don’t have a
genuine need in your life, but that need cannot be met through fervent believing prayer? Oh, dear friend, how we need to learn how to pray. And, in our study in the book of James this morning we’re going to be thinking on this subject, victorious prayer, victorious prayer. And, we’re going to study under three headings. First of all, we’re going to see the presumption of un-offered prayer. And, then we’re going to see the problem of unacceptable prayer. And, then we’re going to see the principles of undeniable prayer. How to pray so that our prayers cannot—will not, shall not—be denied.
I. The Presumption of Un-Offered Prayer
First of all I want you to see the presumption of un-offered prayer. The first two verses: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain… yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (John 4:1–2). “Ye have not because ye ask not.” The presumption of un-offered prayer. God wants to bless us. God wants to give us what we need, but we’re so presumptuous. We’re so proud. We’re so self-sufficient that we go about in our own strength—fighting, warring, scheming, planning, hating, killing, conniving, striving—trying in our own way to get the things that we think we need.
Do you know what’s wrong in our city right now? Our city is not given over to prayer. There is no problem that cannot be solved by prayer. There are no problems too big to solve, just people to small to solve them. I want to tell you ladies and gentlemen, when we begin to pray, and to seek the face of God, then we’ll know peace both domestically and in our hearts, as we seek the face of Almighty God. God wants to bless us, and God will bless us through prayer.
More ships! Some cry, More guns! More fighters in the air! But wise the King who calls for more prayer!
Pray, ask and ye shall receive the Lord Jesus said. You see, it is not until we pray that God moves into action. It is prayer that links our lives with the omnipotent power of God.
A little boy was trying, one day in his play, to move a huge stone. And, he was trying with all of his might to roll that stone over, to shove the stone. And, his little muscles were bulging, and there was perspiration on his face, and he was biting his tongue and just trying to move that stone. And, his father was watching. And, his father said to him, “Son, are you using all of your strength?” And, the little boy said, “Yes, daddy, I’m using all of my strength.” And, his dad said, “No, you’re not. You haven’t asked me to help you.”
Sometimes we’re burdened down with weighty burdens and problems, and we strive, and we cry, and we fight, and we war, and we wrangle and we’re saying, “I’m doing everything I know to do.” Have you ask your Father to help? Have you linked your life with His? Could it be that God wants to bless you? And, the reason that God is not blessing you could be so utterly simple. You have not, because you ask not.
I told some of you a while back a story that I think bears repeating right now, and I don’t like to repeat too much, but this is so apt. When I was down in Florida, pastoring a church as a young man, in college, I had a little country church down in the Indian River section of Florida where the finest citrus fruit—I believe—in the world is grown. And, I went down to that little country church out in the middle of the orange groves. And, one of the leading deacons down there, a kind man, who’d been so good to us through the years said, “Adrian, I want to give you some oranges from my grove to take back to college.” I said, “Very well, Mr. Ingram.” But, I wasn’t prepared, for he’d brought several huge duffle bags full of oranges, canvas sacks full of oranges. I said, “Mr. Ingram, Joyce and I can’t eat all of those oranges before they spoil.” He said, “Well, you take them back to college and give them away.” I said, “Very well.” And, so I put all of those oranges in the trunk of my automobile and drove them back to college, lugged them up the stairs to our second floor apartment there—garage apartment—and had all of those oranges there in a closet, and they were taking up a lot of space and they were starting to mildew, and starting to spoil, and I just couldn’t give them away fast enough. It was certainly more than we could eat.
But, one afternoon—or noon time—Joyce had prepared soup and sandwiches for us between classes, and I was eating and I looked out in the back yard and I saw a little fellow about so high—knee-high to a grasshopper—sneaking around in the backyard. And, it became obvious to me that he was going to steal an orange out of my yard.
Now, we only had one orange tree and it was a sour orange tree. Have you ever tasted a sour orange? The most bitter fruit known to man. One bite and you have lockjaw. It’s unbelievably sour. And, this little fellow was going to—he didn’t know they were sour— and he was going to steal one. And, I just watched and I saw him as he took that orange and made his way off. I didn’t have much money, but I would have given a dollar to see him take the first bite. I thought about it. You know, the Bible says, “The bread of deceit is sweet, but afterward a man’s mouth shall be filled with gravel” (Proverbs 20:17).
Well, it’s easy to make the same application to swiping sour oranges.
But, you know, the thing that I could not get out of my heart, and out of my mind, is this: Suppose that little fellow had come up those stairs, knocked on my door and said, “Mister, may I have one of those oranges?” You know what I would have said to him? “Absolutely not, because it’s sour. But, son if you will come in here, I will load you down with more oranges than you can carry, and the best. I’ve got oranges that are spoiling. I’ve got oranges that I need to get rid of.”
It’s going to amaze you when you get to Heaven friend. I believe God’s going to call you over and open the door to his storehouse and say, “Look in there. Do you see those blessings that are soured, and spoiled, and rusty and mildewed? Those are your blessings. Those are things I wanted you to have, those are things that I wanted to load you down with, but I couldn’t give them to you. You went your own way warring, and scheming, and planning and conniving, and figuring and you have not because you ask not.”
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, friend, the presumption of un-offered prayer. Did you know that prayerlessness is a sin? It’s a sin. The Bible says, “…God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you…” (1 Samuel 12:23). Did you know the Bible tells us that we’re to pray all of the time? The Bible says, very clearly in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5 andverse 17 that we are to, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)The Bible says in Luke chapter 18, verse 1 that Jesus “spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). And, so you see—look, when you don’t pray, you’re not just simply missing a blessing, you’re committing a sin. You’re doing without the things that God wants you to have, and you’re sinning against the Lord.
And, let me say this—as I said in the introduction to this message—there is no sin in your life but what prayer would have prevented it. The Bible says in Mark 14, verse 38: “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation…” (Mark 14:38).
John Bunyan wrote in Pilgrim’s Progress, “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, and sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.” Are you praying? Most of us talk about prayer like we do the weather. Boy, the weatherman really missed it today, didn’t he? I mean the one I listened to—and I know him personally, so he’ll know which one he is, I’m not going to call any names—but, he missed it a hundred and eighty degrees and if you’re listening… I heard about a weatherman who had to leave town for health reasons. The weather didn’t agree with him. Well, it didn’t agree with this one.
What was I talking about? Oh, listen friend, prayer is like the weather. We talk about it and don’t do much about it. There is no substitute for prayer. Not energy, not enthusiasm, not eloquence, not intellect. There is no substitute for prayer. My life is no greater than my prayer life. What I am that is important is not what I am on this platform, but what I am in the closet before I come here. What you are in your life when you teach your class is linked to your prayer life.
Oh, my dear friends, this church needs to learn how to pray. We are asking God to lead us into a program that is so immense, so big, so unbelievable, that it absolutely cannot be done—will not be done—unless we pray. I believe God wants us to have what we need. And, I believe he’s going to give it to us. And, I believe we’re going to be able to raise the money to build these buildings. But, I believe it’ll be God who does it. And, we will have because we shall ask. And, our Heavenly Father will answer that prayer. I’m telling you that if prayerlessness is a sin, then some of us need to repent. And, before you do anything else you need to repent of the sin of prayerlessness. We can do more than pray after we pray, but we can do no more than pray until we have prayed. Oh, the presumption, the arrogance of un-offered prayer. Are you guilty of that sin?
II. The Problem of Unacceptable Prayer
But, the second thing James speaks about, not only the presumption of un-offered prayer, but he also speaks of the problem of unacceptable prayer. Sometimes the problem is not that we don’t offer our prayers, the problem is that sometimes we offer them and God will not accept them. God will not hear our prayers. And why?
Well, let’s see what James says. And, I’m reading here in James now, chapter 4, in verse 3: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss”—that is, you’re asking wrongly—“that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” —and, that word enmity means “warfare with God”—“whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:3–4).
Now, here James addresses himself to the problem of unacceptable prayer. Sometimes people pray long and loud, but their prayers are not answered. Their prayers get no higher than the ceiling, no higher than the light bulb, because their prayer is unacceptable. And, why is it unacceptable? Because it is based on the wrong motivation. There are people who are wanting to sacrifice the answer to their prayer upon the altar of their lusts. They’re not asking for the glory of God. They’re simply asking that they might consume it upon their lust. Their motivation is basically selfish, and basically sinful, and God is not going to subsidize our sin. God is not going to underwrite our selfishness.
And, James illustrates what he’s talking about in verse 4, when he says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Now, what is that talking about? Well, let me tell you this: That when you and I became Christians, when we were saved, when we were born again, we became the heavenly bride, and Jesus the heavenly bridegroom. That’s a figure of speech, and the way that the Bible describes our relationship with Christ. He is the bridegroom. We’re the bride. And, just as a bride should be chaste, and pure, and separated and give herself to the groom alone, the church should belong to Jesus Christ and Him only. Do you understand that? Paul says, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to Christ as a chaste and pure virgin” (2 Corinthians 11:2) Oh, we’re to be jealous for the cause of Christ. We are to belong to Jesus and to him alone. We are married to our Lord. That’s the figure of speech. That’s the metaphor that James is referring to here.
But, now there’s another suitor who comes along. And, this other suitor is the world. And, the world is like a scheming, conniving, perverted, adulterous man who comes away to try to lure our affections from the Lord Jesus Christ. And, the Bible says that when we turn from Jesus, and when we become friends with the world, we commit spiritual adultery, spiritual adultery. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Now, let me just put it to you very plain. Suppose living here in the city of Memphis there is a fine man who marries a young lady, and she stands at the marriage altar and says—we’ll call him John—“I take thee John to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, in sickness as in health, in poverty as is in wealth, to death, ‘til death do us part. I will keep myself to you alone so long as we both shall live, so help me God.”
And, then suppose after she makes that commitment to John, over here she falls in love with a fellow named Bill. And, she and Bill begin to live an adulterous relationship, and John knows about it. And, then suppose she comes to John and she says, “John, I have some things I need. John, would you please give me some money and, John would you please let me have the keys to the automobile? Bill and I are going to New Orleans for a weekend. John, may I have some money?” Now, do you think that John is going to subsidize that adultery? Do you think that John is going to give her what she requests? Do you think that John is going to say, “Here, I’m going to underwrite your sin?” Of course not.
That’s what God is saying. God is saying that when we come and become a friend of the world, and then we come to God and we say, “God, you give me that I might commit spiritual adultery with the world.” God says that our prayers are not going to be answered. And, it’s very simple and very plain. The reason that some of our prayers are not answered is they’re so selfish. They’re so worldly. They’re so ungodly.
We’re not interested in the glory of God. So many prayers are worldly at their base, and the motivation is not for the glory of God. The motivation is simply that we might have more, do more, enjoy more. And, James says, “You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss, that you might consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is warfare with God. Whosoever therefore shall be the friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:3–4).
There is the problem of unacceptable prayer. And, you said, “Well, I thought I could come to God and get my needs met.” You can. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And, you may have your selfish desires denied, but you’ll never have your legitimate needs denied if you come the right way. You may pray for personal needs, but you may not pray for sinful and selfish desires and expect to have your prayer answered.
III. The Principles of Undeniable Prayer
Now, the third thing, and the most important thing I want us to notice. Not only the problem—or the presumption rather—of un-offered prayer. And, not only the problem of unacceptable prayer, but I would like for you to notice thirdly, the principles of undeniable prayer.
How can we pray so that our prayers will not be denied? How can we pray so as to get through with God? How can we pray so as to link our lives with omnipotence? James gives us five principles of undeniable prayer. And, I want you to look at them very carefully, and this is vital to you folks. This is vital to me. We need to have our prayers answered more than anything else, and James delineates these principles, and I would pray to God that every one of us today can learn these five principles of undeniable prayer. Are you ready for them?
A. Sensitivity to the Spirit
Principle number one is sensitivity to the Spirit, sensitivity to the Spirit. Look in verse 5: “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:5).
Now, who is the Spirit that dwells in us? The Holy Spirit. And this word lusteth means he has “strong desires,” strong desires. It has no sexual connotation in the Greek language whatever. But, the Holy Spirit within us has some very strong desires, and the Holy Spirit within us is very envious. Now, what is he envious for? He is envious for the cause of Christ.
May I give you another translation? And, listen to it very carefully. The Holy Spirit which He made to dwell in us jealously, yearns for the entire devotion of the heart. The Holy Spirit, which He has made to dwell in us jealously, yearns for the entire devotion of the heart. Do you know what God demands of you before you pray? Your whole heart. And, do you know what the Holy Spirit is saying in you as He lives in you right now? Give your entire devotion to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is jealous for the cause of Christ.
Did you know that the Bible teaches that God is a jealous God? Now, some people don’t understand that. Some people think that jealousy is always bad. Jealousy is not always bad, sometimes jealousy is good. When God is a jealous God, then jealousy is good.
You see, many of us are jealous when we have no right to be jealous. Brother Whitmire has no right to be jealous of other musicians, because he doesn’t own the realm of music. And, there are other musicians. An athlete has no right to be jealous of another athlete because he doesn’t own athletics. There are other athletes who have a perfect right to be an athlete. I have no right to be jealous of another preacher because I don’t own preaching. There are other preachers, but there’s only one God. “I am the
Lord thy God… there is none other.” (Hosea 13:4). “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”, (Exodus 20:3), “…for I am the Lord thy God. I’m a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 5:9).
And, God does not want a place in your life, and God does not want prominence in your life. God demands preeminence. And, the Bible says that all things Jesus Christ may have the preeminence, and the Holy Spirit whom God has given you is constantly over and over and over again saying in your heart and in your life, “Jesus is Lord.” Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Do you want to get your prayers answered? Then you be sensitive to the Spirit. Be sensitive to the Spirit.
But, this is what the Bible calls praying in the Spirit. Tonight if God—if Jesus—tarries and I’m still alive, and you’re here, I want to preach on praying in the Spirit. So, I won’t take more time today, but the Bible teaches that we’re to pray in the Spirit.
You see, we pray in the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. The Holy Spirit wants to think through our minds. The Holy Spirit wants to feel through our hearts. The Holy Spirit wants to speak through our lips. The Holy Spirit wants to weep through our eyes. The Holy Spirit wants to groan through our spirits in prayer. We’re to be praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
And, so James says first of all, the first principle is sensitivity to the Spirit. You see, dear friend, the Holy Spirit teaches you how to pray. “…we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). No wonder sometimes our prayers are not answered.
B. Submission to the Father
Now, the second principle, not only must there be sensitivity to the Spirit, but there also must be submission to the Father, submission to the Father. I want you to look beginning now in verse 6, what James says, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God…” (James 4:6–7). Submit yourselves to God. There is no answered prayer until you’re submitted to God. That’s what the Holy Spirit makes us sensitive about. That’s what the Holy Spirit is so jealously yearning over us about, to make us submissive to God. Do you know why sometimes our prayers are not answered? We’re saying not thou will, but mine be done. Let me tell you something friend. Prayer is not some exercise where you talk God into doing what He doesn’t want to do. You’ll never do that. Prayer is not your bending God’s will to fit your will. Prayer is finding the will of God and getting in on it. And, therefore when we come to God, we must come to God saying, “…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done…” (Luke 11:2).
Do you know where man got in trouble? In the Garden of Eden when the first Adam said, “Not thy will, but mine be done.” Thank God for the second Adam, the Lord Jesus, who prayed in another garden, “…not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). And, that’s the way prayer is to be answered. When we come to God submitting our wills to the Father. Are you submitted to the will of God? This is the confidence that we have in Him. The Bible says, “that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14).
Our problem is that we’re so broken—so unbroken, so haughty, so arrogant. We come strutting into the presence of God. No wonder God doesn’t answer our prayers. “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” (James 4:7). Are you submitted to God? Is His will your will? Do you love, more than anything else today, to do the will of God? I say, “Do you?” If you don’t, you’re wasting your time when you pray. Prayer is not for rebels. James says, “You have not because you ask not.” You ask and receive not because you ask amiss. Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Oh, my dear friends, when we begin to take this thing of the Lordship of Jesus Christ seriously, then our prayers are going to be answered. Submitting ourselves to the Lord.
C. Standing Against the Devil
Now, let me give you the third principle. Not only sensitivity to the Spirit. And, not only submission to the father. But, standing against the devil. Look again, if you will please, in verse 7. James chapter 4, verse 7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Have you ever thought about
the devil fleeing from you? Hmm? To most of us the idea is ridiculous. We think the best we might be able to do is to get the devil to leave us alone, and that not for very long. But, Jesus said, “Behold, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy” (Luke
10:19). “…greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). And, a principle, a powerful prayer, prayer that cannot be denied is this: that when you pray, you must enter into warfare with the devil. Prayer is warfare.
You know the Bible says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). And, the Bible ends that passage in Ephesians 6 with saying—praying it therefore in the Spirit—and “all pray in supplication” (Ephesians 6:18). You see, the warfare is prayer. When we put on the armor, we’re just getting ready to go to battle. We have an enemy—a real enemy, a coming enemy, a sinister enemy, a malevolent enemy—an enemy who hates us.
Now, don’t get inflated about that. It’s not because you’re so important in your own right that the devil hates you. The devil’s real worries are with God, and wicked persons have always known that if you cannot hurt an individual, then hurt someone that individual loves and you’ve hurt them anyway. And, that’s the reason the devil’s warfare is against you. But, you see, God’s warfare is against the devil. And, how does God intend to win the war? Through the prayers of His people. Isn’t that strange? God intends to win the war through the prayers of His people. Omnipotent deity has limited itself to our prayers. And, God moves when we pray, and prayer is warfare.
And, oh dear friend, the devil, the devil understands that. Let me tell you something about the devil. The devil doesn’t mind if we meet here this morning, not at all. He doesn’t mind if this choir sings. The devil doesn’t mind if you have your preacher, and the devil doesn’t mind if you do everything except pray. Now, pay attention now. The devil mocks our scheme, the devil laughs at our organization, the devil sneers at our buildings, but the devil hears our prayers. The devil will do anything he can do to keep you from praying. The devil will even encourage you to read the Bible if it’ll keep you from praying. The devil will encourage you even to go to church on Sunday morning, if it’ll keep you from praying. If, dear friend, you didn’t have time both to come to church and to pray this morning, it’d have been better for you to stay home and pray than to come here this morning.
Now, you have time to do both. So many people get here on Sunday morning with a quarter in one hand, and a nickel in the other and “Gunsmoke” on the brain. There is time to do both if they had planned it right. But, I’m just trying to tell you there is no substitute for prayer. The devil doesn’t care what I preach, what I do, what I say. He says, ‘Go ahead and have your church, go ahead and have your organ, go ahead and have your choir, go ahead and have your building, go ahead and have your congregation, go ahead and have your preacher, as long as you leave out the power of Almighty God that comes to earnest, persistent, powerful prayer that will not take no for an answer.”
Now, once dear friend, we’re sensitive to the Spirit and submitted to the Father, then and then alone, we’re ready to resist the devil, and to stand against the devil. Up until that time you might as well be throwing snowballs at the rock of Gibraltar. And, before you resist the devil, you better submit to God, or you’re going to be in a lot of trouble.
But, when you submit to God, and when you can say I am jealous for the cause of Christ and Jesus Christ is Lord, then you can say to that devil, “Devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, I defy you, I repudiate you, I resist you, you’re trespassing on my Father’s property. In the name of Jesus, and in the power of the blood, be gone.” And he must flee from you. Powerful prayer.
D. Separation from the World
Notice, first of all, there’s the principle of sensitivity to the Spirit. Secondly, there’s the principle of submission to the father. Thirdly, there is the principle of standing against the devil. Fourthly, there is the principle of separation from the world. Look in verse 8, if you will of this same chapter, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8).
Now, what is James talking about? The principle of separation from the world. And, you might as well not try to be separated from the world until you resist the devil. And, you might as well try not to resist the devil until you submit to God. And, you might as well not try to submit to God until you’re sensitive to the Holy Spirit. But, once you have made the submission, and once you’ve made this resistance, now is the time. Now is the time, dear friends, to come, to be separated from this world. You see, dear friend,
it’s not that if you can clean up your life God will accept you. No, no, no. You can’t clean up your life until you’ve come to God, ’til you get you to repudiate the devil. You’re never going to have victory over the world.
But, what is James saying? When we come to this point in our prayer life that we cannot come to God with dirty hands, we cannot come to God with divided hearts, we cannot come to God with double-minds. We can’t come to God facing both ways. “For whosoever is a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4). And, God didn’t save us, and bathe this world with His blood to have us serve the devil. Is there some unrepented sin in your life? Is there some habit, some attitude, some grudge, some gossip, some resentment? Then get rid of it. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts, your double-minded.
Do you remember what James has already said in another place? “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:7). Now, are you going to let go of this world
and take hold of God with both hands? Then, dear friend, you’ll know power of prayer. The Bible says, “ye shall search after me and find me when you search with your whole heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). If there’s anything that God despises, it is halfhearted religion, halfhearted praying. There must be a separation from the world. The Bible says clearly and plainly in Psalms 66, verse 18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:18).
So much of our praying is, “God bless us anyhow. I’m not going to repent of my sin, I’m not going to let go of the things of this world, but God, please bless me, please answer my prayers anyway.” Well, He’s not going to do it. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:18). That doesn’t say, “If I’ve sinned, the Lord will not hear me because we’ve all sinned.” But, if you have regard for iniquity—you see, we all have our little pet sins. Let this notebook represent your little pet sin. So, we have a little pet sin here. And, it’s right there in our heart. Oh, nice fellow. Hmm I really love that sin, see. And, now I come to God and I have regard for it. “Now, Lord, this is what I want you to do for me. Nice fellow. Now, Lord I have a child that’s sick. Hmm, pretty boy.” Do you think God’s going to hear our prayer? Double-minded, divided heart, dirty hands.
And, oh, there must be a repentance. There must be a forsaking of that sin. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalms 66:18). God cannot bless, God cannot honor our prayers when there’s sin in our heart. Therefore, James says, “Cleanse your hands… and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (James 4:8). The fourth principle therefore, victorious prayer, is separation from the world.
E. Seriousness and Soberness in our Purpose
And, then the last principle that James mentions is here in chapter 4, beginning in verse 9. And, it’s the principle that I call seriousness and soberness in our purpose. James says, “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:9–10).
I tell you one more reason why our prayers are not answered. Because our prayers are not fervent. They’re giddy, silly, half-hearted, easily uttered, soon forgotten. James says, “it is time that we prayed in keeping with the urgency, and the emergency, of the need.” We need to learn to weep before the Lord.
Conclusion
Hezekiah was about to die. He turned his face to God and prayed and God said, “I have seen thy tears, I have heard thy prayer” (2 Kings 20:5). Has God seen your tears? Oh, we have plenty of organizers, but not too many agonizers. I’m preaching to myself, but I want to ask you a question. When is the last time you ever shed a tear over some soul that was mortgaged to the devil? When’s the last time you missed a meal to pray? When’s the last time you fasted and prayed? When’s the last time you spent a night in prayer? When’s the last time when you got hold of God and said, “O God, I will not let you go, lest you bless me.” God forgive our weak prayers, our easy prayers, our lazy prayers, our “take it and leave it” prayers, our own broken prayers, our own dead prayers. A broken and a contrite heart, “thy wilt not despise, O God” (Psalm 51:17).
James says, “Get serious about your praying.” James says, in the fifth chapter, “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). And, I have sensed that Twentieth Century Christianity is missing primarily in fervency when it comes to prayer. There’s something about it. And, God can tell when we mean business. O God, help me, help us, help this church to learn the secret of victorious prayer.
