======================================================================== (CLIP) DOES GOD HEAR YOUR PRAYERS？ by Leonard Ravenhill ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer and the eternal impact it has, urging believers to prioritize prayer in their daily lives. It highlights the power of desperate prayer that reaches God's throne and the transformative nature of consistent, heartfelt communication with God. The speaker challenges listeners to seek the Lord earnestly, reminding them that earthly pursuits will fade away but prayer grasps eternity, and encourages a deep, ongoing relationship with God through prayer. Topics: "The Power of Prayer", "Prioritizing Communication with God" Scripture References: Matthew 6:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, James 5:16, Luke 18:1, Philippians 4:6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer and the eternal impact it has, urging believers to prioritize prayer in their daily lives. It highlights the power of desperate prayer that reaches God's throne and the transformative nature of consistent, heartfelt communication with God. The speaker challenges listeners to seek the Lord earnestly, reminding them that earthly pursuits will fade away but prayer grasps eternity, and encourages a deep, ongoing relationship with God through prayer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Work for the night is coming. Give every flying minute something to keep in store. You push the day around. In case you don't know, there are 24 hours in it. They're divided into three eights. Normally you work eight, you sleep eight, what do you do with the other eight? On the same basis, you live 60 years, you work 20, you sleep 20, and what do you do with the other 20? All earthly things with earth will fade away, but prayer grasps eternity. Therefore pray. Always pray. I've said this often and it's got me into trouble, but I'm still going to say it anyhow. I'm quite sure of this, that no man, I don't care how large his church, I don't care how many books he's written, how far he's traveled, I do not believe that any man or woman is greater than their prayer life. But I'm convinced of this, God does not hear prayer. He hears desperate prayer. There are millions of prayers prayed that never reach the throne and they're never answered, but never, never, never is prayer of this nature ever denied. How to pray, do I? Because she got tired of all the trinkets. She got tired of eating and drinking and being happy and sharing the most time with her husband, getting the nicest clothes, all the other things. There came a place where she said, listen, I can't put up with this. You'll find the same thing in the 30th chapter of Genesis where Rachel comes down one day and says to her husband, listen, Jacob, give me children or I'll die. Do you remember that passionate phrase in the middle of the 11th chapter of Numbers? And remember, it's dangerous to pray. In that chapter, the people began to reproach God and say, well, we've had nothing like we had in Egypt. We don't get meals like that. We don't get onions like we used to get, meat like we used to get. And God says, all right, you've asked for it. Are you going to get it? He said, not for two days, not for 10 days, not for two weeks, a whole month. We say sometimes, you know, we had it till it was running out of our ears. You know, God says, I'll give you it till it runs out of your nostrils. And Moses, the man of God says, listen, I've got a number of complaining people. God says, well, they complain more to me than they do to you anyhow. But Moses says, don't leave this burden upon me. If you do, kill me. That's a bit of desperate praying, isn't it? Because if you're going to be a preacher or a missionary, if you're not known in hell, well, I don't think you're worth much anyhow. Some demons one day pounced on a preacher. Matter of fact, they beat a few preachers up. And you'll never find one of them turned around and said, listen, Jesus we know and Paul we know. I think that's the greatest thing I envy about the apostle Paul. Not that he raised the dead. Not that he cast demons out. Everybody's casting. You go to some meetings, you have a headache, you've got a demon. To sneeze, you've got about 50. You know, the devil doesn't care a hill of beans how long we chase demons as long as we don't hit the devil. See, that's praying, not how long you pray. Though sometimes we can, the thing all we have to do is send a five word telegram to heaven and all eternity will operate for us. Forget it, that's not true. It always startles me that the disciples never said to Jesus, Lord, teach us to preach. They heard the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest man that ever lived, the Sermon on the Mount, and yet not one of them ever said, Lord, teach me to preach. They never said, Lord, teach us to do miracles. They did say, Lord, teach us to pray. Prayer is not a position, whether you kneel or face the east. Prayer is not a position, it's a disposition. That's why the apostle Paul says that it is possible to get to that place where you pray without ceasing, where every moment of your life, you're in an attitude of relationship to him, not for something you want, but that somehow God might come again and breathe. You see, the answer to America tonight is not in the White House, forget it. The answer to America is in God's house. You know, I'm so simple that I thought a year ago God was writing the last chapter of history as we know it, and I don't think that anymore. I don't believe he is writing the last chapter, I believe he's writing the last page. And he says, the Lord whom ye seek, well, let's wait a minute, are we seeking the Lord? Now, when I say that, I'm not thinking about Bethany Parish, I'm thinking of the Church of God generally. Are we seeking, is the Church seeking the Lord tonight, or is she seeking success, is she seeking miracles, is she seeking prosperity? What are we seeking? The scripture says, the Lord whom ye seek shall walk, shall suddenly come to his temple. Don't go out and say like people say, well, I made up my mind I'm going to pray four hours a day after this. Why don't you make your mind up you're running the Olympics tomorrow? You don't have much chance. You don't change overnight. We approximate to it. We get our muscles stronger and stronger in the place of prayer. You get to the place where you'd rather sweat, you'd rather weep in his presence than laugh at anybody else's presence. You'd rather God whisper a secret into your heart that breaks you. Somebody give you the prizes of all the world. Only one life shall soon be passed. Only what's done for God will last. Only one life shall soon be passed. Only what's done for God will only one life shall soon be passed. Only what's done for God will last. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/cgAuz0hmiLY.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/leonard-ravenhill/clip-does-god-hear-your-prayers/ ========================================================================