Touching the Heart of God
Luke 18:9-14
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnsKqgXUXKLZ13J7FrnC6uQ
The other day as I was looking at the topic of prayer, this came across my desk. “A faithful Christian mother will seek to carry her children in at least three places: in her womb, in her heart, and in her prayers.”
We see such faithfulness on the part of Hannah, the wife of Elkanah in 1 Samuel chapters 1-2. She was unable to conceive. So, she faithfully prayed for a son so she could give him back to serve the Lord for the rest of his life.
God then gave her a boy and she named him Samuel, whom we know as the prophet Samuel, and after he was weaned, she came back to the temple and there said to Eli, the high priest …
“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore, I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:27-28 NKJV)
And the Lord continued to bless Hannah in that afterward she then gave birth to three more sons and two daughters.
Now, talking about being a mother who prays, one mother said this. “In prayer, I find more humility, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. In spending time with my Heavenly Father and realizing how broken I am, I have more patience with my children and their brokenness. I need to be a praying mom so that I can be a better mom.”
One of the things that I see in our house is how much Michaela prays for our kids and grandkids. Not a day goes by that she isn’t praying for them before she even prays for herself and the healing she so desperately needs.
And from her prayers I have seen, not only a change in me but a change in our kids and grandkids. That is the power of a praying mom, or let me say it this way, that is the power that is available for every believer in Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16b NKJV)
Now, the first thing that most people get discouraged by, and which causes many the say a cursory prayer only, or not remain consistent or faithful in their prayer life is the belief that this verse doesn’t apply to them, because as far as they’re concerned they are in no way righteous, they are no Prophet Elijah who prayed and brought down fire and rain from heaven.
But just so we don’t miss this, James goes on to say that Elijah was no different than the rest of us. He just prayed believing (James 5:17).
And so, the righteousness that James is speaking to is not the righteousness that we have, but rather the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we inherit when we come to faith in Him as our Savior and our Lord.
But this really isn’t where I want to go in our time together today. Yes, I want to talk with you about prayer, not just the prayer life of mothers, but the prayer life of all of us. And my point is that there is nothing more precious to God than when we call out to Him, no matter the motive behind the prayer, God just wants to hear from us, the same way we want to hear from our kids and grandkids.
As most of you know my birthday was last week. And the one thing that stood out above it all is how our kids and grandkids got on the phone in video chat to wish me a happy birthday. They were even smiling when they did!
But this whole message actually came from a conversation we were having in one of our men’s Bible Study on Wednesday evening. I can’t remember what started the conversation, but we started talking about our motives when we come to God in prayer.
And while we are told of our need to come to God in prayer, we need to be careful that we don’t come with the wrong motives as we’re told in James’s letter.
“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b-3 NKJV)
And then in the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, it begins with our adoration of God, you know, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9-10 NIV)
And only after this are we to lift up our prayer request to God. And it is in these verses from Jesus and James that we end up feeling guilty about our prayer life, and how it really doesn’t measure up to what the Bible says. And so, we just don’t pray, we don’t call on God.
But this is what I believe the Lord was showing to me through my communication with one of my grandchildren.
I absolutely love to hear from her, and it’s always on FaceTime, which means that neither one of us are looking our best on the phone. In other words, I usually get a call from her first thing in the morning. And I also know that it’s not really going to be much of a conversation on my side, but a whole lot on her side.
And while it isn’t convenient sometimes for me to answer knowing that I’m going to be looking at a screen and listening to and watching her do whatever she does. I am just grateful that she thinks enough of our relationship that she will call.
Most of the time it’s listening and watching her put on her makeup, and how she gives me a blow-by-blow analysis, even when she does her hair. She even asks me what I think about this or that outfit or shirt she wants to wear.
She then takes me down the stairs, via phone, where I am watching the ceiling most of the way, where she then makes breakfast and shows me everything she is doing, from the pan, utensils, mixing the ingredients to the actual cooking of it, and then she sets the phone up to allow me to watch her eat.
The other day I missed her call and when I gave her a call back, I got the entire rundown on what she was making for her lunch, and then what she would be having the next day.
Now, mind you, I’m hardly saying anything but trying to get some clarification along the way. And while what she does may irate some people if that were done to them, I’m thrilled, only because she thinks enough of our relationship of grandfather and granddaughter that she would call me and share with me that part of her day.
And this is what I think it’s like with God. No, we may not do it right, and yes, our motives might be totally wrong, asking God for this or that, or asking God to join in with us in our daily routine, but I just think that God is elated that we would call out to Him, that we think enough about our relationship with Him that we just want to spend time with Him.
And while Jesus did share with us about how we are to pray, that is adoration first, our requests, then our confession followed by our forgiveness of others and for God’s forgiveness of us. I think God just wants to spend that time with us, the rest of how we are to come to God will happen through this relationship we develop through our prayer time with Him.
Hopefully, this will help you and encourage you to just spend time with God, even though right now our conversation with Him may not be doctrinally correct.
And so, just like my granddaughter has touched my heart with her wanting to be with me, even if it is only to watch her do her thing on Facetime, I believe we touch the heart of God when all we want to do spend a little face time with Him.
In our remaining time together, I’d like to look at what Jesus describes are the type of prayers God pays attention to, or the kind of prayers God hears, that is, how we come, or our attitude in coming. And I’d like to do so through the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, or as I like to say that it is the parable of the guy who thought he was righteous, and the other guy who knew that he wasn’t.
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat 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 who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14 NKJV)
Now, instead of looking at this as two separate individuals, that is, one who was a Pharisee and the other who was a Publican, I think that it is best to look at this parable as Jesus speaking to each one of us, that is, we all have the Pharisee and the Publican living inside of us. We all have the good and the bad, the hypocritical and the sincere.
And so, before we move on, it might be good to look at exactly who was a Pharisee and who was a Publican.
Pharisees were considered in those days as the pinnacle of Judaism, that is they were considered the righteous ones, and the pillars of the community. They were deeply religious and committed to upright living and the keeping of the Jewish traditions and laws.
And so, you can imagine what those Pharisees thought, as well as all the others when Jesus said that this Pharisee’s prayers when unheard. It was something that was unheard of.
The Publicans were not just considered sinners of that day, but they were Jews who collected the taxes for the Roman government, along with collecting money for themselves for their efforts. In that day they were considered the pond scum of that society, the lowest of the low, or the bottom feeders of the food chain.
And Jesus uses these two opposites to reveal the prayers that God hears and proclaims as righteous before God. And so, I’d like to talk about what I see then as the three H’s of prayer that God hears.
Helplessness
Now when Jesus gave this parable, it says that he was addressing those who trusted in themselves and their own righteousness and thus despised others who weren’t. And the language Jesus uses gives the impression that this Pharisee’s prayer was all for show. He wanted to make sure that everyone could see and hear just how righteous he was.
The Publican, however, approached God in fear and trembling. His feet seemed to be frozen in place, in that he never came close but stayed in the back. You kind of see him taking one step in and then several steps sideways as he was hugging the wall.
You see, he entered in with a heavy heart, a heart pressed down due to his sinful condition, and thus his simple and unassuming prayer, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Now the helplessness that I am referring to is not a weakness, as it is often thought, but rather, helplessness before God is a strength and the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
In Isaiah 40:29, Isaiah said of God, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.” (Isiah 40:29 NKJV)
And the Lord said to Apostle Paul that it was when Paul was weak that it would be His (God’s) strength and grace that will get him through.
The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a NKJV)
To which Paul replied, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me … For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 9b-10 NKJV)
And so, it isn’t the prayers of the proud and self-righteous that God hears, but those who are weak and helpless before a holy and righteous God.
Honesty
Look again at the Pharisee’s prayer. He said that He wasn’t like other men, and that’s a lie. He was exactly like all the others, a sinner, and the Bible declares that all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory, that is, short of God’s holy and righteous standards for life (Romans 3:23).
The Pharisee’s problem is that he compared himself to the wrong person. The Bible says that when we compare ourselves to others we err, that is, it’s a mistake (2 Corinthians 10:12). Instead, we are to compare ourselves to a holy and righteous God, then we’ll see ourselves as we truly are.
Again, going to the Prophet Isaiah, he had the right view of who he was before a holy and righteous God.
He said, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isiah 64:6 NKJV)
As we look at the Pharisee’s prayer, what we find is little if any confession and a whole lot of profession. You might say that he was trying to prop himself up by talking about himself to himself. Notice what Jesus said, that he “prayed thus with himself.”
What I find sad is that the Pharisee was so near, he was on the very doorstep there in the temple, but in reality, he was so very far away in his spirit. The Lord talked about these sorts of people again through the prophet Isaiah.
The Lord said, “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.” (Isaiah 29:13 NKJV)
The Publican on the other hand was open and honest about his sin. He came to the Lord in his sinful condition knowing that he had nothing to give and nothing to boast of. He could see his sin and his desperate need for God’s forgiveness.
Humility
The Pharisee’s trust was not in God but in himself, thus making God irrelevant and unnecessary. And we see this prayer dripping with pride. Notice that it is full of the word “I,” much as was Satan at his fall when He said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:13-14 NKJV)
If you compare both of these conversations you will find that they both contain the word, “I,” 5 times.
The Bible says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 NKJV)
In fact, what we read in the Bible is that pride is on the list of the 7 things the Lord hates (Proverbs 6:17). But what we also see is that God gives His grace to those who are humble (Proverbs 3:34).
The Apostle Peter said, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7 NKJV)
And so, Jesus closed this parable saying that the Publican who was helpless, honest, and humble, went away justified, that is, he left forgiven by God, whereas the Pharisee in his pride and self-righteous attitude left unjustified, that is, still in his sins.
Dwight Moody said, “The Christian on his knees sees more than the philosopher on tiptoe. God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.”
And so, let’s learn this lesson that Jesus took the time to teach, and that is of our need to put away all pride of self and humbly bow our heads and hearts before God, admit our lack of sufficiency, our helplessness, and then honestly address our sins to God, and humble ourselves before His mighty hand so that we can receive grace and mercy in this our hour of need.
And so, it is these types of prayers that touch the heart of God as our desire is just to spend a little face time with Him.
