Address—R. Pilkington
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A few more and more the need of prayer as I think of the word prayer.
Very meaningful to me, many of you, your brothers and sisters.
On the other hand, it's not a formal thing.
So if you feel the word, prayer.
And your thinking brings something very formal to you. Then I'm going to want to talk to you and to me this afternoon about talking to the Lord.
Talking to the Lord.
Let us turn to First Samuel, and I think the story begins here.
In my.
Experience prayer begins in One Samuel chapter 3.
Samuel, Chapter 3.
Now this is a well known story, not really necessary to read the whole chapter. I wish to take a look at several instances in the growth of Samuel, but this is the beginning of his story. Of course, the real beginning of his story is Hannah and her prayer in chapter one.
And Hannah knew how to pray also. She knew how to get through to the answer. This is one of the things in a minute I wish to stress.
We might know how to pray, but quite often we don't know how to get to the answer.
The answer may not be yes.
The answer may not mean that you get what you ask for.
But the answer is like Hannah, who turned away and went away with a quiet harm. And there.
Countenance was no more like before.
She got through in her prayer to the answer and in this chapter 3.
And verse 4.
And says that the Lord called Samuel, and he answered here my.
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I for the callest me. And he said, I called not lie down again. And he went and laid down. Dear young people, dear children, sitting here this afternoon.
I know that some of you know the Lord Jesus personally.
As your savior, it's very wonderful. I'm just so happy.
That maybe you're five or six or seven or eight and you know that your sins are forgiven. You know that you belong to the Lord Jesus.
But you might not know too much about prayer.
And I want to say something. I don't wish to offend and I don't pretend that I am correct or anything, but over this last year.
My little family.
God has blessed us.
And a very meaningful.
Aspect of my little family in Hong Kong, a little bit more isolated.
Is every evening after supper we read the Bible?
And then comes the time that is very precious to me, and we go around the circle and we pray together.
Prayer is not a formal thing.
I have a little daughter.
Every night he says, praise Lord Jesus.
Don't let me have any bad dreams tonight.
I say Amen to that prayer because I know she means it.
If we have a picnic coming up, I want to go swimming or something.
Invariably.
The four girls asked for good weather. Don't let it rain. Please Lord Jesus, we want to have a good time tomorrow.
Prayer. Very simple.
So I encourage you, you may be very young.
But each day find the time to pray to the Lord Jesus.
It doesn't have to be a long prayer. Prayers in the Bible were very short.
Peter, Lord save me.
It's another one. I've forgotten what it is, but it's just about the same length.
No introduction, informal introduction to that prayer, no Amen at the end of it.
Some of the most meaningful prayers in my life have been the most informal at a Chicago conference.
Maybe 20 some odd years ago at Wheaton conference, out the back behind those cement things that you know that they practice tennis in meltdown on that thing.
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And I prayed, said Lord, I've got an answer. I've got a prayer that I've got to pray to you. I've got to have an answer.
As I don't there quietly voice came to me. Not an audible voice, but a scripture.
Came into my heart, went back to my room, looked it up. It was the answer. Now looking back over the 20 years, that was the answer that God gave to me. Informal, not in a church, not in a meeting, just on a piece of some men out the back with me sitting there praying in my heart, maybe half my year listening. I was afraid someone come around the back and see me kneeling there. Informal. And so we begin this afternoon with Samuel.
The first call came to him from the Lord, and he didn't recognize it.
The call.
And he ran to Eli and said, You called me, didn't you?
Dear brothers and sisters, young or old, especially young this afternoon.
I have found in my personal life that restlessness He is invariably a call to prayer.
I have found in my life.
When there's something bothering me, that's the Lord calling me to prayer. The Lord had a message here for little Samuel he mistook.
The call the first time maybe you are have have have problems in your life if you're a little bit older young people.
I want to encourage you, if there is restlessness in your life, if there's a problem that is pressing in on you, I'll tell you what it is. It's the Lord calling you. He wants you to pray to him. He wants to contact you because.
When we speak of talking to the Lord, it's a two way Rd.
At least I hope it is. It's a two way Rd. You talk to the Lord, but He will also give you an answer. And so beginning with this verse, the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel has good reaction. Have you got good reaction? Do you know when you're in a problem?
Will Samuel jumps up. Away he goes to Eli.
But Eli doesn't have the answer.
And so I really can now in verse #6.
And the Lord called yet again Samuel.
Samuel rose and went to Eli and he said, hear mine.
For thou dost call me. And he answered, I code not my son. Lie down again, call comes again. Or I could only impress on your heart and my heart.
The Lord is not impatient.
Though is not impatient. You know, I get pretty impatient if I call once and I have to call twice and I have to call a third time. You say I don't call the 4th time.
I think that calls for action.
Obedience is a great thing to learn when you're young and the Lord calls again. He's kind enough to come a second time and give a call. How many times has the Lord called in your life?
Perhaps he is calling this afternoon to you.
Restlessness or a problem in your life that you cannot solve. It's the Lord's voice to you, calling you. He wants you to pray to him. He wants you to find some quiet corner, some quiet time to kneel down in his presence or whatever you want to do. Relax, to be completely relaxed and say, Lord Jesus, I'm listening.
Now could you give me the message again please in verse 7? Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
Neither was the word of the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. And so I start with this little story of Samuel, because I feel it's the beginning of communication, the beginning of talking between the Lord and Samuel.
And dear boys and girls, if you really know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The Lord Jesus wants you to talk to Him very simply.
You don't have to use any form.
In one sense of the word.
Talk to him very simply, be honest with him. And so here little Samuel for the first time gets 2 calls from the Lord. If we go through the history of Samuel, Sam is very quick. What can I say? Sam is communication with the Lord is very natural.
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He doesn't have to go up on a high place. He doesn't have to offer a burnt offering cut off. And you'll see in Samuel's history, the Lord just simply said to Samuel such and such. And Samuel very naturally speaks back to the Lord.
And so this is his first time. It says he didn't know there was the Lord.
And verse 8.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time, and he rose, and he went to Eli, and he said, Here am I, for thou didst call me.
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
As a parent with five little girls, pray God.
That He will give me the discernment to see when the Lord Jesus is calling my little girls.
Eli didn't know the message.
He lied and say OK, well I'll go and get the message for you.
You know, I didn't quite understand what was happening, but praise God.
God gave him at last, on the third call, the discernment to understand that the Lord Jesus was calling Samuel. God was calling Samuel.
So, dear young person.
What about your prayer life, so to speak?
His confession at this last year I have felt my really sad neglect of prayer. I'm just too busy.
But when you get too busy, life doesn't go well.
If your connection with the Lord has problems.
And so Eli said to him, he said, go lie down in verse 9.
And it shall be that if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and laid down in his place.
Good advice. Eli didn't try to interfere.
Between Samuel and the Lord speaking now is an older person.
I don't try to interfere with your dear young Christians. I couldn't tell you the encouragement that you bring to my heart.
I see your love for the Lord.
And the earnestness to get out the gospel to others. Tremendous encouragement.
If I can.
Because I'm an older person, middle-aged person, if I can encourage you in any way.
With scripture or prayer?
I counted my tremendous privilege to do such a thing.
But I don't interfere between you and the Lord, I want you.
To be very close to the Lord, the Lord's not going to give me.
What He wants for you, except in the sense that sometimes we can help one another, but there are very personal things that the Lord has for your life and He's going to tell you directly and He wants to communicate with you in a very real way.
And so here, after the third time, Eli.
Isn't that lovely? He said. OK, I know what's going on now. You go down, lie, lie down. When the voice comes again, you say, speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening. Do you know what he says in Chinese?
Lots of you have heard me say this before. It's so beautiful I can't refrain from. It's one of the beautiful parts, Eli told Samuel to say. Speak Lord.
For thy servant is respectfully listening.
He's not beautiful and I want you to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus in a quiet time by yourself with a respectful attitude. I'm not going to tell you how to pray, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but as long as you have a respectful attitude, your heart is tender towards the Lord. OK, I'm quite satisfied. And so in Chinese it says.
He told Samuel to say, Speak Lord, for your servant is respectful listening.
I'm ready to hear, I'm ready to do speak. Lord, this is something that you will have to learn, dear young person, in your prayers, all of us, really old and young.
We all have to learn that He is Lord, and you can't play around with the Lord. You have to come with an honest heart, willing to do whatever the Lord has for you to do.
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But quite often when I look at my own heart, I see so many mixed feelings. I know that sometimes I don't come to the Lord because I know what he's going to say and I'm out ready to do it. And so he said, speak Lord.
Lord, remember that He is the Lord Jesus. He is your Lord. And then it says, for your servant heareth, Are you ready to do what the Lord Jesus has for you to do? You are a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is your Savior.
But He is also your Lord. He is a wonderful thing to know and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in your own life.
To me.
Service does not mean that you leave a job.
And go out with the Gospel to me services for each brother and each sister. Service is spreading the fragrance of the Lord Jesus in your work day, place and among your brothers and sisters.
So to come down to verse 10, it says the Lord came and stood and called as at other times.
Samuel, Samuel, this time it's twice. Dear brother, sister, it's urgent that you get in connection with the Lord. He is urgent that you know how to pray because there will be no growth and no solving of problems.
Unless you know how to pray, how to talk to the Lord Jesus, how to talk to him freely, relaxed.
And so he said, comes and says Samuel, Samuel.
Then Samuel answered, Speak for thy servant heareth he forgot one word.
He forgot one word, He forgot Lord.
In Chinese, it still has the word respectfully speak, for your servant is respectfully listening. So when you come in prayer, dear brother and sister, learn to relax. Learn to do it in a time when you're not rushed. But you say, like me, like last year, my life's too busy.
Well, that's the that's that's the problem right there and to me.
A couple years ago, two or three years ago, I discovered that I just didn't have the time to read. And when I did read, I.
Was always looking at my watch.
And so I decided I'm going to do something very practical.
And so every morning I would get up at 5:30, go downstairs and jog for a while, get the blood flowing quick, come up, have a nice lovely hot shower, or if in summer, lovely freezing cold shower. Get my coffee, sit down at my desk, take my watch.
And it was set for, I don't know, it was something like 6:30 or something. And then I could forget the time and then I could sit down and relaxed in a relaxed frame of mind. I could spend reading over the word of God, maybe in prayer, as what you and I will have to do. We'll have to regulate, shove other things out of the way, say here is the slot for prayer.
So that I don't miss it every day or every week, and if I get into trouble I'll probably have to make more slots.
For it, and so Samuel here.
The Lord speaks to him for the first time, and he gives him the message, not to Eli, but to Samuel. So I beginning this afternoon, I want to encourage you, no matter whether you are young or old.
To talk to the Lord.
I'm not Speaking of formal.
Talk to him.
As you would to your own best friend.
And in fact, personally.
The Lord Jesus is better than a best friend.
Because just what I was telling you before, when I come in prayer, sometimes I have a sixth sense of what the Lord is going to tell me, and I don't particularly want to hear it.
So I tell the Lord Jesus about that.
Said Lord Jesus, I'm coming into your presence. You know right well my problem and you know right well I'm not going to. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not willing to listen to your answer. I think you're going to say such and such, and I'm not very willing.
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I just want to confess it to you, Lord Jesus. I want you to know about it. You know about it already, but I just want to say it in front of you because I know you love me so much. You want me to overcome that. And so I continued quietly on prayer in that vein. And the Lord helps me.
And so to begin this afternoon talking to the Lord in this first example, Samuel, someone very young who wasn't aware of what was happening.
But the Lord took time and patience, and He taught Samuel. He got his message to Samuel in the end. And as I say to your as an older brother or sister, a father of a family of five girls.
I value that quickness, that sensitiveness.
That I might discover when the Lord Jesus is calling each one of my little girls, That they might.
Develop.
Not only reading the Bible, but also in prayer, so that prayer comes.
Second nature to them, it's not a big thing. They know how to do it so that when they grow up into teenagers and I have one girl who almost a teenager.
That in that difficult time in the teens, when the world is making its bid for you and the Lord is making his bid for you.
That in that time when I have to step back.
My only resource is prayer. It's a pretty good one.
That that prayer will become second nature.
Dear young people, his prayers second nature to you. As I say to you, I encourage you this afternoon, if there is restlessness in your heart and there is unhappiness, I tell you what it is. It's the Lord calling you.
He's calling you. He's got a message for you. He either wants to comfort your heart.
Or He wants to give you guidance for your life and He loves you like no one else on the face of the earth, and He is all wise and He knows what is best for you.
I trust that you will develop.
Talking to the Lord Prayer.
Now let me go over to Chapter 8.
Also Samuel such a little before that. Let me see. Yes, here it is chapter 8 verse one. And it came to pass that when Samuel was old.
Came to pass when Sammy was old that he made his son's judges over Israel. Now the name of the first born was Joel and the name is second Abaya and they were judges in Beersheba.
And his sons walked, not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes and perverted judgment.
Than all the elders of Israel gathered together, themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Rama.
And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.
Now make us a king to judge us like the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel.
When they said give us a king to judge us and Samuel.
Pray unto the Lord.
An old man now an old man.
Samuel And it's very beautiful.
This passage because they come to him and say, Give us a king.
That hurt Sammy very deeply. It wasn't a personal thing.
But I heard him very deeply. It wasn't that he wanted to be king.
But he knew that the Lord was king.
And when the people said you make us a king, that hurt him because they were turning away from the Lord.
Does he get angry?
Does he tell people off?
Does he react in a fleshly way?
He prayed quietly to the Lord.
I do young people and older ones.
There are going to be many things in your life that are unjust.
That happened to you. We live in an unjust world.
And when Christians, brothers and sisters, get away from the Lord, and the flesh reveals itself.
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And we get problems and troubles.
We get words spoken, they are not fair.
Get a course set that will hurt someone who really 100% wants to follow the Lord.
But what did Samuel do? They say let's get the judgment down on these people now and cut them off. No, he came quietly to the Lord, and he prayed to the Lord.
It's very beautiful. His heart turned invariably to the Lord.
My dear brothers and sisters, I trust.
In my whole life I will have that instant reaction no matter what happens to turn back to the Lord.
But you will see something rather interesting and I want to point out to you now.
They really raped Samuel over the coals. Plus it wasn't unrighteous, it was a fair criticism.
It was a very fair criticism of Samuel because his children were not proper.
Dear brothers and sisters, we all fail. We all have weaknesses. I'm not up here to justify anybody.
Or myself.
And when criticism comes turned to the Lord.
Turned to the Lord, and when he turned to the Lord, what happened? Did the Lord justify?
Samuel, did he say, yeah, those people are pretty bad, you know?
He didn't justify Samuel, but what he said in verse.
Seven. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all they say unto thee, For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
How he doesn't justify Samuel. Not only that, it tickles my sense of humor and I appreciate the Lord for doing this.
He's not telling Samuel off, he's not telling the people off. He's just explaining quietly the situation. Before I want to say what I want to say, I'd also point out this aspect and in my own Christian personal life, dear young person, dear middle-aged brother and sister, even older brothers and sisters in Christ, that we often need the Lord to explain situations to us.
We are very narrow minded, we really are. We're very narrow minded.
I'm particularly sensitive on this point.
Because I live in another culture that thinks a different way.
It's rather amusing, you know, after 10 years, I said, now I understand Chinese. Now after 20 years, I say, Oh no, I don't. I never will.
And I appreciate the wisdom of the brothers and sisters in the Hong Kong assembly. They understand their own race much better than I do.
And I try to keep my hands out of things when there are things. When we come to a brother's meeting or so on, I have my say, but boy, I surely listen pretty carefully to the rest of them because they understand the situation. Sometimes you get so isolated. We live our own life, especially if we get into a selfish frame of mind. We can't see things from someone else's point of view. And that goes for older and that goes for younger.
I desire a tender heart and a tender.
Tenderness towards other whether they're younger than I am or older than I am. I desire this because in Ephesians chapter 5, bitterness is a thing that it talks about immediately after it says don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And then the next verse talks about bitterness and an unforgiving spirit.
And so here the Lord is very beautiful. You know what he's doing. He's explaining the situation to Samuel. Not only that, he's comforting Samuel's heart. Isn't that beautiful? Samuel was in the wrong. Sure, the people were, but Samuel was also in the wrong. And the people are really blaming. Samuel said your sons are not proper and you brought all this trouble on us.
But the Lord is comforting Samuel's heart and he says they haven't rejected you, they've rejected me. Do you know what that says? When I I stopped to think about it, in other words, way down deep hidden in Samuel's heart, he felt that they were rejecting him. He had been a leader, a God-given leader, a God-given prophet.
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Much of his life is praiseworthy and now he gets to the end and feels that he should get some real special honor or something.
And the people turn away from him and criticize him.
And the Lord is saying, just keep calm, Samuel. They haven't rejected you, they rejected me. So I desire on the hearts of each one of us that we might have.
The ability to pray to the Lord, that we might get the comfort from the Lord, and that the Lord might feel free to explain situations to us.
And so he warned them in Chapter 8. We have no time to read it.
Very faithfully.
So he warned them very faithfully. He said if you are going to get a king Israel, you are going to pay for it and you are going to pay for it dearly. And he warns them very clearly. And then down in verse 19, down in verse 19.
Verse 19. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they say nay. They said nay, but we will have a king over us.
That we may also, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our King may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.
And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken under their voice, and make them a king. Verse 21 is my favorite verse. And Samuel heard all the words of the people.
What was his reaction? What was his first reaction? You get upset.
Maybe, I don't know. Probably did. Did he run around and try and find people to talk to? No, Back to the Lord. Back to the Lord I desired, Dear brother and sister, that the Lord might be your resource. Go back to him. He won't tell you any lies. He won't color the story.
He will explain things to you and he will comfort your heart. And so Samuel says he were rehearsed the words of the people in the years.
Of the Lord. That's very beautiful, isn't it? He goes back and he rehearses all these words. In the years of the Lord, didn't the Lord know what the people said? Sure he knew.
But he appreciated.
As Samuel took the time to quietly go back to him. Dear young people, don't get turned away. Dear older ones, don't get turned away. The Lord is your resource.
The Lord is your resource. Satan tries to get us detract every single time.
Looking at one another, finding fault with one another.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I desire that not only you, but I also might have a tenderness.
And a heart open only to the Lord, sensitive to my brothers and sisters. But when I get cut very deeply back to the Lord.
Rehearse the words in his ear. Don't tell anybody else.
That's where our problems sometimes come.
Matthew 18.
Says that.
If your brother has offended you.
You are to go and see him yourself.
And get the thing straightened out with him so that you might.
I'm thinking Chinese now. I can't remember the, the English word, but the, the, the idea is so that you can recover your brother, so you can recover your brother. You can set the relationship right with you and your brother and Hebrews 12 so that the bitterness doesn't spill over and spread to other people. And so prayer is a very precious thing, talking to the Lord, getting it out with him, just telling him how you feel.
I desire that for you and me.
Now almost the last one in the last one in Samuel's.
Just one verse maybe chapter 12, second last one in Samuel's history, chapter 12 and verse chapter 12. Then he sets up the king.
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Talks about it and then look down in verse 23, chapter 12 and verse 23. Moreover, As for me, moreover, As for me, each one of our lives is very personal. Each one of our lives is very individual. What you do is for you, so he says. Moreover, As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord.
In ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way.
Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He has done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. Samuel's heart yearns in prayer.
For his brothers and sisters, the Israelites, I desire.
That kind of a heart.
A praying heart.
And he said, even if you've done this now in taking yourself a king, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to stop praying for you and I will do my best in a practical sense to teach you what is the right and the proper way of the Lord.
And then one more verse in Oprah in chapter 16, Samuel, Adam, Samuel and the Lord in there in their life together. I love that. I love the Lord in my life. I like having Him in my life.
Sure, he tells me things black and white he doesn't color.
But that's why I appreciate Him so much. And even if I do wrong, He doesn't reject me. He takes His time to get me straightened back out again. Here's chapter 16. Samuel and the Lord working along together again.
Samuels I don't have the time to read this because I would like to look just for a second at the Lords prayer in Matthew. So this chapter maybe you can look at it tonight. 1616 is very beautiful. The whole thing the same thing about Sangha talking to the Lord. The Lord says please go over there and anoint David Simon Says no way I lose my head on it tells the Lord how he feels.
And the Lord just quietly says, OK, I got a safety plan for you.
Didn't need it actually if he had gone over there he wouldn't have got his head chopped off. But the Lord gives him a little plan so that you know he's brave enough to go ahead and away goes and says and come over here to sacrifice for the yearly sacrifice or whatever you know want to get there. He calls Jesse and now this one verse number six came to pass that when they were come he looked on Eliah and said surely the Lord.
Is before him.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on the countenance, or on the height of the statue.
His statue because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. If a beautiful isn't it the more more the more I I I I meditate on this is more beautiful. It is Samuel. He's very outright, you know he's tells the Lord how he thinks that's what they desire for you, dear brother and sister.
That you might have that freedom before the Lord.
To turn out your heart to the Lord. He will not despise you. He loves you. He knows what's in your heart already. Why don't you just talk to him simply? And along comes Eli of the the first born. He said, Ah, this is the one.
That's not what the Lord said, and this is what he said almost. I don't know. It looks to me as if he's talking to the Lord saying, oh, here he is, here he is. And the Lord said, Oh no, this is not the one.
That's what I I appreciate in relationship with the Lord. He tells you the things as they are. He'll explain situations that you could never discover. And I appreciate that because I know that.
I fail very much in being unfair to brothers and sisters.
Because I don't know all the factors of the situation, and so quite often my judgment is an unfair judgment.
And I like to say, the Lord, could you explain the situation to me? And the Lord comes along and says.
You were really rough on that brother, but did you know that he's got pressures in his family?
Did you know he's under financial pressure?
Sure, what He did is not right, Sure you should not justify things that are wrong. But you have no compassion because you haven't looked at the situation as a whole. You can see it, but I know it. And how does the Lord do that to me? He doesn't tattletale on my brothers and sisters to me.
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But quite often when I pray to him and I say, Lord Jesus, I like to understand this situation. It's a puzzling situation. It's bothering me. Could you not telling anybody's secrets, could you explain it to me? And sometimes you will give me a story in the Old Testament or a scripture in the Old Testament. And I say, oh, I understand, I understand. And then when I look with eyes of compassion.
And my brothers and sisters, I discover that the Lord was right. He was being. The Lord was being compassionate.
I was being unfair because I didn't know all the factors. So here Samir just speaks right out in front of the Lord and said OK, here's the man, let's get on with it. He said. No it's not. The man is the wrong one, he said.
You look at it according to man. God looks at it differently. He looks at the heart.
And so when the next one comes along, the next boy, and verse 8 Then Jesse called Abinadam, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this one. Now Samuel's not so quick to talk.
The second boy comes past and he just simply says the Lord hasn't chosen this one. He's listening to the Lord now. He's not telling the Lord his ideas. So it is good in prayer.
Too, I definitely say learn to empty your heart before the Lord.
But on the other hand, also learn to listen to the Lord.
Learned to spend some quiet just kneeling there in prayer.
I guess my knees are not too strong. So sometimes I lie on my back because then I'm completely relaxed in prayer. And after I've finished telling the Lord, then I just say, Lord Jesus, now, could you give me a verse or a scripture? And sometimes I just lie there very quietly. And the Lord doesn't always give me answers, OK. But it's good to tarry in his presence. And so this, this boy came past. The second one came past.
Summer has no comment, he just has the word of the Lord, he said. The Lord hasn't chosen this one.
And there are seven boys that went past one after another. And he simply said, the Lord hasn't chosen these. So Jesse says, well, let's have another tribe. And the seven go past again.
Samuel says no, I'm sorry, these aren't the ones you've got any more.
And then as you know, there was one in the field, the the boy David. And so in this chapter 16, Samuel, the Lord working quietly together, Samuel giving his ideas, but the Lord also answering him and telling him the situation. Now before we turn to Matthew, we only have 5 minutes before we turn to Matthew. I'm going to give you some homework to do. I'm a school teacher.
Some homework if you'd like to do. There's one more example that is extremely beautiful.
And that is David. And David says I am going to build a temporal house for the Lord.
Very good idea, very lovely idea. And the Lord sends the prophet to him, says no, you're not.
But he says I'm going to build you a house. The Lord said today I'm going to build you a house. And David is just filled with joy and Thanksgiving. Do you know what he did?
Look it up tonight or when you have some time. You went in and sat down. You went in and sat down before the Lord and in his whole heart poured out in Thanksgiving, he said. I don't, I don't, I don't even know how to talk to you. You've treated me as if I'm some very famous man.
I don't know how to thank you, but OK Lord Jesus, you want to do it? Thank you, Please do it for me.
And that is often what I've found in my life. The Lord has blessed me very richly, has blessed me very richly. I have no words to thank Him. And so sometimes I like to go in and quietly sit before him and just say thank you, Lord Jesus, I'm going to enjoy what you've given to me. I'm going to enjoy it. You give it to me to enjoy. I'm going to enjoy it. You give me all these lovely brothers and sisters here at this.
Addison Conference that I can enjoy their fellowship and their prayers and their concern for me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, I'm just going to enjoy it.
And so talking about prayer that that's a prayer of Thanksgiving. That's a prayer of Thanksgiving. Now, last of all, I would like to look at Matthew chapter 27. Is it?
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2026 I guess where the Lord Jesus is praying. Now this is slightly different type of prayer.
The Sparrow is getting through to the answer and it is a perfect prayer because it is the Lord Jesus prayer himself. And if it's an example of the Lord Jesus or from his life, he's got to be a perfect one.
If it's example from other people's life, it may not be all that perfect, but this has to be a perfect one.
Verse 36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto Disciple, Sit ye here while I go and pray Yonder. And he took Peter, and and the two sons of 70, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Then said he unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with me now. This is a prayer of pressure, a prayer of pressure where there's real pressure pushing down.
We have heard this morning in a prayer meeting.
Of some brothers and sisters that are really under real desperate pressure.
There may come a time, and I pray God not, but He knows best what is for you. There may come a time.
When there may be tremendous pressure on you in your life, God knows if you can take it and if He gives it to you, He will make you overcome in it. But if that time comes to you, dear brother or dear sister.
I pray God that at that time you will know how to pray in reality, in reality like the Lord Jesus here. And so he began at verse 2630.
36 And you see the pressures start to build up on the Lord Jesus Christ. So he separates and only takes the three that quite often were very close to him and goes a little way.
And he opens up his heart to them.
Could you watch with me?
Could you watch with me? And he separates from them.
And goes on a little bit more.
In verse 39 And he went a little farther and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will. What is, I will. Dear brother, dear sister, I want to say to you, be honest in prayer, Be honest in prayer. Open up your heart.
To the Lord, He knows what's in there. He wants to comfort your heart.
But quite often, if you're not honest with him, he doesn't do it. And so we hear the perfect example. Here we have the perfect example of the Lord Jesus himself. Under tremendous pressure, he says, not only that, I love to think of this scene because he falls. He falls on his face. He not only kneels down another, another gospel tells that he kneel down, but here he falls on his face. Think of it.
The.
All powerful Son of God.
Lying on his face in prayer, the pressure is so tremendous on him, for you and for me, of course, the pressure of that load. And he says.
It would be possible.
Let this cup pass from me, from me, but not my will. Your will be done. He knew the answer.
But he opened up his heart to his father and said if it's possible, could you please take away this cup but not my will. But thine be done. Now just to skip over to Luke.
Chapter 22.
Just for one characteristic of the Lord's Prayer.
Chapter 22 and verse.
Let's start at verse 42.
Luke chapter 22, verse 42, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in an agony or an anguish, he prayed more earnestly. And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
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It's another aspect of the Lord's Prayer. He.
He prays and an Angel comes from heaven. Strengthen him. Quite often you will get a release from pressure in prayer. But it seems to me, and I speak, dear brothers and sisters, you'll forgive me if I speak wrongly, but it seems to me as if the Lord, in a human speaking way, hadn't gotten to the bottom of it. He prayed three times.
And if the Angel comes and strengthen them, sometimes you will get relief from prayer.
But don't give up unless you've got to the bottom of it. Don't give up until unless you really get to the bottom of it.
And so an Angel strengthens him, but what does he use that strength for? He uses that strength to pray even more intently in the J&D translation, very beautiful. He prays more intently, more intently to get at the bottom of the whole thing. And it says being in a conflict. Now I don't mean to say that the Lord Jesus.
Was considering not going through with the cross, but the conflict, the anguish.
The new translator even uses the word depress depression, although not in the human sense, I don't believe. But he felt that pressure very real. And even though an Angel comes and strengthen him, he still goes back into prayer and he prays three times until he gets right to the very bottom.
This is my precious savior.
In conflict, In prayer.
And so, if there is any dear brother or sister who feels pressure in your life, learn to pray.
Like the Lord Jesus did, open up your heart completely to him, and May God comfort your heart. So we see the Savior after this in these next few chapters and He is composed. He is thinking of others.
You don't get a glimpse of his anguish except in that cry. My God, my God, why is thou forsaken me?
So, dear brothers and sisters, I just share these few thoughts on prayer with you this afternoon. It is the deep concern of my heart that for you and for me, we might learn to pray.
Properly and in the real sense of the word.
And if there are difficulties and puzzling situations in your life, I commend to you to quietly Mull over the verses on prayer. Learn to do it always, in all situations.