In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of prayer in the life of a believer. They highlight how many people view prayer as just a religious activity or something to turn to when in trouble, but fail to recognize its true significance. The speaker also emphasizes that prayer is not just a personal matter, but a partnership with God in His work of saving and blessing people. They share a personal testimony of their own conversion experience and how it transformed their understanding of prayer. The sermon concludes with the reminder that being in a relationship with God and being born again is essential for effective prayer.

It is not always possible to get to a prayer meeting these busy days, and so much to be done. But I wonder could we dine wherever we may be. The Lord knows there's no respect for the places. If you're driving your car along the road there, you can just bring your way like that. But it says watch and pray, so keep your hands open when you're at that job in the car. Or boy, you'll be an undertaker for a mature youth. Would you not sit down and say... It'll do your body a whole lot of good, it'll do your soul a whole lot of good, and it'll bring blessing upon the meeting night by night. Would you do that? Now you try to do that, you'll find the devil will begin to get busy. Something will happen at the door. Telephone will begin to ring. The pot will begin to boil. Oh, that dirty pig, he'll be at anything to keep you back from praying. The devil's not concerned much about preaching. He's not concerned when the weakest sits on his knees. And he'll move worse than hell if he can only just keep... We'll talk to our neighbors across the fence there, across the head, for at least this week. And just give yourself 10 or 15 minutes in the morning to prayer. Would you do that? You men at your work, you can be busy with your hands there, and yet you can give your heart. And as we wait upon the Lord who tells us, glory to God, there's no knowing what He'll do if we'll only give Him half a chance. So would you do that? We do greedily covet your prayers, and we desire that you'll join with us along that line. So at half past seven every night, those of you who can manage, you'll gather in here, and then we'll gather to have the meeting every night. If the Lord tarry, He may not tarry, and He may not let us get at it either. I thought sometime ago there that maybe my day was done and over, and God knows how long He may keep us out of deal. You know, dear friends, before the Lord died, He left us a good deal of instructions. And a very good many things He gave us instruction concerning. The largest portion of the instructions was regarding the Holy Spirit. What He would do, what He would come, and that He would come. And what He would do with all His followers and all His believers. But He took up the matter of prayer too. And He has left us instruction regarding prayer. You know when people come to die, or imagine they're coming to die, they're very sober. Everybody else around them is very sober about it. And whatever conversation they may be engaged in, it'll be a sober thing, a real thing. And you couldn't imagine it'd be frivolous or untruthful. You'd believe that it'd be sincere and truthful, whatever the conversation would be. Now Jesus Christ, before He died, He left us instructions regarding the matter of prayer. And I want to talk to you while this evening on this matter of prayer. In John chapter 14 and verse 13. Now here's what He says. Whatsoever ye shall ask. Whatsoever ye shall ask. In my name. That will I do. That the Father may be glorified to the Son. Ask anything. Ask anything. In my name. And I'll do it. I believe He meant what He said, don't you? I believe He said what He meant. And I believe He knew what He was talking about. Some people say things they don't know what they're talking about. But Jesus knew what He was talking about. When you take the gospel of John 13. These are the final farewell words. And these words are the words of Jesus. Whatsoever ye shall ask. Whatsoever ye shall ask. In my name. I'll do it. I'll do it. Ask anything. Anything. In my name. And I'll do it. Now some of you are looking at me there. With a way of scredulity or deranged. Is Jesus Christ a liar? Are you questioning His words? Whatever ye ask. I'll do it. Ask anything. I'll do it. It's a lie. Is He telling the truth? We all say we believe He's telling the truth. Well is He telling the truth now? Whatsoever ye shall ask. Now don't boil it down. Whatever is just like whosoever. Whosoever means everybody and excludes nobody. Whatsoever means everything and excludes nothing. Whatsoever. Whatsoever ye shall ask. I'll do it. Ask anything. Now don't boil it. Anything means anything. Whatsoever means whatsoever. A fellow gets up to me and says he denies the deity of Christ and denies His word has been infallible and inerrant. Well I feel sorry for that kind of a fool. But when a fool tells me he believes it and then begins to tell me this is something, this means something else. Whether he's got a collar turned up at the back of his neck or a black nightshirt on, I'm watching him. As sure as you live, he's going to put it. And you hear them saying it's either true or it's a lie. And to be able to talk along that line is to handle the word of God deceitfully. And how many are doing it? And then they'll say well you'll get something, you'll not get what you ask. But he says whatsoever ye ask. You'll not get something, you'll get what you ask. He says if your son asks bread, will you give him a stone? If he asks fish, will you give him a scorpion? If he asks an egg, will you give him a snake? And if ye, knowing how to give good... Whatever ye ask. Now don't mind it, whatever means whatever. A pair of shoes, a dress on your back, a hat on your head, a job, healing of your body, sanctifying your soul, saving your... Whatsoever. Don't, don't, don't boil it, whatever ye do. It means exactly what it says. Whatsoever. Whatsoever. Ask anything. Anything. Anything. He says I'll do it. Well boys, doesn't look like that in your experience. Many of our experience is this. How many times have ye asked, what did ye get? How many things have ye asked for and never received? That's a problem. That's a problem. And it's that big a problem that they've given up praying in. But in the church up in Palomino there, they have... And ye meditate. And ye meditate. So imagine, sitting there at the table, and the wife saying, you're not going to get what you're asking a meal here, you're going to meditate. When I asked my mother for a... I wanted peace of mind. Whatsoever ye ask. Whatsoever ye ask. Ask anything. And I'll do it. Well, has that happened in your life? He that asketh, findeth. He that seeketh. He that gathereth. It'll be opened. And yet, what a gulf there is between that and our own experience along the line of prayer. And mind ye, I'm not talking to but unconverted people now. I'm talking about those of us who are washed with the blood and born of the Spirit. Why, how long this matter? Why have ye given up praying in your life? If I asked today, how many of you spent ten minutes alone in prayer to rise to your feet? Boy, it would show you what a desert we've got here. Ten minutes in prayer. I had a brother-in-law, a professor in a college, and when I was running a church in Scotland yonder, had a night of prayer once every month. Half night of prayer once a week. He said, what on earth do you do? He says, I've never spent a night in prayer. There are multitudes of the Lord's people and that's what they think about prayer. Some kind of a lovely habit. Some kind of nice thing. Some kind of religious thing. But you don't get anywhere. Don't get anything. So they quit the prayer. When is the night used to be the church's prayer meeting night? See what happens now. It's generally a picture show. Maybe a missionary picture show, but it's a missionary picture show. Maybe a lecture. Maybe a Bible reading. Anything but prayer. Anything but prayer. Some of us when we get into a corner and get into trouble, we'll say, well, I suppose I could do nothing else but pray. That's what we think about. Now, I'd like to rub a whole lot of that in, dear friends. I was hearing about a person that was preaching one time, and he said lovely things. But as I listened, I said, yes, but he's not rubbing them in. But this is a booth of the Salvation Army. She said she believed the Holy Ghost to convict, but he's not rubbing it in. Whatsoever he shall ask. Whatsoever. Whatsoever. He hears. He hears. Whatsoever. Ask anything. Anything. And it's yours. He says, I'll do it. And he's either a liar or he's good. He means it or he doesn't. He can do it or he can't. But that's what he said. Those were his dying words. These disciples were being comforted. He was going to leave them. And he says, whatsoever you ask. Whatsoever you ask. In my name. I'll do it. Ask anything. I'm rubbing it in. Ask anything. He says, I'll give it to you. Well, dear friends, when I was a good deal younger than I am now, and when I was beginning to preach. That's a long time too. Well, I was going to quit preaching and praying, or else solve this problem. I was going to quit. This praying and praying and praying and praying. Nothing happened. Or getting anything that you want. Wasn't good. But you're wasting your time. Making a fool out of yourself. And I wanted to be in an honest job. And I couldn't stand as a preacher behind the desk and talk about praying and praying and didn't believe in it. I was honest enough with that. Go and earn an honest living. But I got a solution. And that solution has studied me nearly 60 years. Preaching up and down the country nearly every country in the world. About 12 times around the world. Help me, Father. I believe literally the words of Jesus. Whatsoever ye shall ask, ask anything, and I'll do it. Do you notice the sublime simplicity of the conditions? You get some of these big rich fellows that leave a trust or a... And boy, you see them legally. And look. Jesus says, whatsoever ye ask, ask anything, and then listen. Here's the condition. In my name. Nine letters. Three wee words. If you've got enough brains to give you a headache, in my name. That's the condition. Whatsoever ye ask, in my name. Ask anything, in my name. So you'll get it. In these farewell words, seven times he uses that in my name. That name had never been heard in heaven before. About brains. Something new. Something new. Jesus Christ has brought something to pass. Whatsoever ye shall ask, ask anything in my name. In my name. In my name. And I will do it. Not a dirty word to you, friend. Not a dirty word. He'll do it. Now here's what... Here's the solution that I had, and have, and that's kept me going. What do you mean by in my name? What do you mean? Well, there are three legitimate ways that you can use it. Three legitimate ways. There is, first of all, the filial way. There is, second, the marital way. And third, the commercial way. Now let us look at it a wee while. The filial way. The family way. My name's William Pattison Nicholson. Our Mr. Pattison was sixty-six years minister of the Trinity Church. He baptized me in Bangor here. But the last before he passed away. And they called me after that old fella. William Pattison Nicholson. I'm not here under a nondecluse. I'm not in Bangor, Sean Jackson and Jimmy Thompson when I get down yonder to baptize. Or Billy Morgan or something like that. No. Everywhere I go, I've got the family name. Legitimate name. I've been raised to it twice. I was born in the family. How do I know? My mother said one day, she says, there's your father. About that. And I've never seen any fella stand up and challenge that. That I didn't bring a little protest. I'm not an illegitimate. I'm well born. And all I have is the word of a sinner. Saved by grace. God be with me woman, my mother. Dead sure. Well satisfied. Family name. I have a right to use it. 22nd of May, 1819, down the old home on Princeton Road. In a chair in the kitchen waiting for breakfast. I'd been wandering around the world and spending my life in the riotous living. And I came home. Just about a fortnight home. And I was sitting there smoking. Reading the paper. My mother was getting ready for the breakfast. And suddenly. Suddenly. Consciously. Powerfully. Glory to God eternally. I was converted in a moment's time. In a moment's time. One moment I was a child of the devil going to hell. And the next moment a child of God. And an heir of God in a joint heir with Christ. Don't look at me, I'll tell you God's truth. And I became a child of God. And I'm in the family. And I have a right to the name. I have a right to the name. Tell me dear friend, is this solving your problem? Oh God, my Father. Oh God in heaven. Father, would you help me? Would you do this? Would you do that? And nothing happened. Are you in the family? Have you been born again? If you haven't. You're tugging at the wrong skirt. You're chopping at the wrong door. God's not your Father. Oh, I thought. I thought God was the Father of everything. Hold on your leg. I go down the street there and a wee fellow comes and tugs my shirt. Coat tail and he says, Daddy. Oh you brat, you go over there. I'm going to do that. Oh yes. Isn't God the Father? No, no, no. God's not the Father of the devil. There's not a damned child. And there never will be a damned child in heaven. And there's not a child that God's on the road to heaven. Who's on the road to heaven? Children of the devil. Who's on the road to heaven? Children of God. Have you been born again? It's just as necessary to be born again to get into God's family as it was to me to be born again. There's no other way but birth. No substitute. You can be baptized, catechized, confirmed, vaccinated. That doesn't change you from one family to the other. You may be as upright as those who put pillars. You may be as clean as a house too. You may be as decent and respectable as anybody that ever lived. You can pray like an outpour. You can be as generous as anybody could be. That doesn't make you a child of God. Have you been born again? Jesus says you must. An imperative necessity. You must be born again. Born again. And when you're born again, then of course, you're in the family. You've got God as your Father. Jesus Christ as your Savior and Elder Brother. The Comforter as the Sanctifier and Guiding Friend. You're in the family. I want to make that clear, dear friends. There's a queer lot of people and they're going to hell. Don't do it. There's a queer lot of people on the road to hell. Think they're going to hell? Just because they're respectable and decent in church and all the rest of it? No, no. Jesus said, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, now listen, we have preached in thy name. Do you mean to tell me every preacher goes to hell? He does if he's not born again. And Jesus says there's many of them not born again. But they're using the name. Preaching in the name. Orthodox Christ materialists. Good Baptists. Fine Lutherans. Episcopalians. Roman Catholic Jews or Gentiles. Fine! But you see they're not in the name. They're not in the promise. Many. Many, says Jesus. Many. From the pulpit to the pit. From the church to the caverns of the dam. From the sound singing to the weeping and the wailing and the gnawing of teeth. That's a terrible thing, isn't it? So are you born again, dear friend? You've been born of God-fearing parents? You've been baptized in the covenant grace? You've been brought up in a decent, respectable, religious way? You've joined church, Sunday school, choir member? Well, fine. Latherer, a deacon of the church? Pillar? I'd better get that pillar. Never been born again. Never been saved. Never been converted. I was holding a meeting in the Trans-Basilian Church in White Inchin. And in the after-meeting I noticed a lady. And after a while I stepped up and I said, if you'll just stay to one side and pray, I'll... And I took her hand and covered it. I said, ma'am, I'm awful sorry for you. Must have been some terrible tragedy in your life. Yes, it is. I'm awful sorry for you. I'd like to help you. She quietened down a wee bit. Says, could you tell me what's wrong? Oh, she says, I've quit going to church. I'm sure you have. So would I if I was in your shoes. I've quit praying. Oh, she says, I know. I feel about that too. I don't believe anymore. Aye, indeed, she says, I'm sure you do. I just would feel that way if what you had, what I'll hear about, I'd just feel the same way. Say, what was it? It was in the first war. She was a widow. She's only one boy. And he was caught in the draft. And it broke her heart. When he left the home that morning, she got back in there and after a while she just, she said accidentally opened the bag and she came across these verses. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. Ask anything in my name, I'll do it. She says, Father, I trust you for that. She said he's dead and buried in France. She says, aye, sister, will you tell me something? Were you ever converted? Are you saved? Have you been born again? No, she couldn't say that. I'm a church member. Say my prayers. Say, who are you praying to? Our Father in Heaven. Oh, no. Your Father's not in Heaven. Say, your Father's the old devil. Not God. Well, she says, isn't God the Father of everything? Oh, no. God's not the Father of cats and dogs and quakes and cows and horses and fleas and bugs. No, He's not that. He's the Creator. He's the Creator of everybody. But He's not the Father of everybody. He's only the Father of those who are born again, have been converted by faith in Jesus Christ. And, sister, maybe there's where your problem's been. Oh, I've prayed and prayed. What's the good of it? I don't go to a permit anymore. I don't follow my friends. I may be put through a wee bit of a time again, but that's nothing. Nothing to it. Does this solve your problem? Have you ever been saved? Are you a converted woman or a man? Are you born again? You couldn't be born again and not know it. You couldn't be saved and not know it. If you don't know or not sure, you can be dead sure that you're not. But, thank God, you can be born again suddenly and lead the family of the dead and instantaneously become a child of God so that this very minute you can look up and say, My Father, My Father. Which I didn't have. You have a legitimate use to the name. But if you're not born again, you have no right to the name. You have no right to the name at all. Maybe that's where you are. You've been praying and praying and praying this, that or the other, but you're not born again. You're tugging at the wrong skirt, chomping at the wrong door. And then the second way, if we're to use this name, it's the filial way. We've got to be in the family. Family business. Second, it's the matrimonial way. Well, my wife and I got married, they called her Collette. That is the name. C-O-L-L-E-T-E. Fine old English name. But I say, since we got married, I haven't heard that name used. I haven't seen that name written down. When she writes a letter, it's Nicholson. And boy, when she writes a check, she puts the right name on it. Don't you forget it. She has been legally married. Lawfully wed. And it was a good wedding. It was enforced. You know there's a lot of people and they get engaged to be married. But they don't get married. Something happens. And there's a lot of people and they got engaged to the Lord. Maybe in a mission meeting and evangelistic meeting or some service or some experience or another. They took a notion of the Lord. Made a profession. And they became engaged. But they'd never been married. Never been married. Just exposed. Engaged. Never been married. I wonder, dear friend, does that touch your problem at all? You've been praying nothing happens? Asking and not receiving? Seeking and not finding? Knocking and no door open? Have you been married? Are you really wed to the Lord? Strange mystical union. Are you really wed to the Lord? Are you His bride? Or did you just get engaged? And then maybe you got persecuted or something happened or some experience came in. Sorrow and tragedy came in. And the Lord tells us that because of these things it faded away. And as you are faded away, you don't bother about praying much. You don't know any intimacy about the Lord and communion. You're not married. And then, dear friend, some of you, but you're divorced by the Lord. See, the Lord has made allowance in marital affairs. If you can't get together, you can be divorced. That is, your communion is destroyed, but not your union. When you're married, according to the Bible, you're married forever. While life shall last. If either one dies, then that relationship does not exist. You can be married again. But while both of you live, and you marry, you're living in adultery. You're a whore among us. That's what the Bible says. How many are like that today? Well, dear friends, God believes in divorce still. Friendship with the Word is enmity with God. If you be a friend of the Word, you're His enemy. And the Lord says that if you've got into that state, flirting with the Word, card parties, cocktail parties, tobacco chewing and smoking, your picture shows, the world in it, and you're flirting with the Word, other lovers, other loss in health, is divorce. There's no communion between you now, but you're still His. You're still His. If divorce, if divorce here means the annihilation, then you're going to the place where you... When you're in a church, when a woman gets separated from her husband legally, she can't benefit in that man's estate anymore. That's stopped. All communion and communication is stopped legally. And when you flirt with the Word, and you're dancing and carrying on with the Word, and it's secret societies and lodges, and one thing and another, you're divorced. No contact with Him. You can pray to the crack of doom until your face is black. He'll not hear you. He says, touch not the unclean thing. Come out from among them if it separates. And He says, I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. If you want to get into living union again with the Lord, and communion with Him, fellowship with Him, and the direct legitimate use of His name, get back. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He'll take you back to His sister and brother. But you've got to turn and get away from it. Be separate. Touch not the unclean thing. He says, I'll be a father to you. The communion will be settled. The fellowship will be opened up again. And whatsoever ye shall ask Him, He says, I'll give it you. Has this been the reason why you have been out courting and flirting with the Lord? With the Word? Untrue to Jesus Christ and your vows to Him? And then you expect Him to answer? Oh, no. Expect Him to sustain? No. To bless? Oh, no, no. You've got to get away. And if tonight's where you are and as you are, if this is the solution of your problem, if you'll only come out from among, have done with the thing, get into fellowship with the Lord, whatsoever ye shall ask, He says, I'll do it. And then the last way you can use the name is the commercial way. Supposing Brother Flanagan and I had a business together. And we were partners together in a business. I don't know what it would be, but supposing, we'll suppose it, that has happened. I'd go to my lawyer and say, Lawyer, I've got a partner, I'm going to enter into business, and I want you to, I want you to get a, a document here that will tie him up as a result. So Brother Flanagan goes to his lawyer and he says, this fellow Nicholson here, we're going to have a partnership together, and so I want you to bring up a deed. A deed that will safeguard my interests. Well, the time comes, whenever we get together, the four of us. Lawyer here, lawyer there, Flanagan there and me here. And they'll read my, what I want. And so it's either corrected or, or accepted. Flanagan, his is read, and corrected or, or accepted. All right, out of the two, they get, they get one document. A deed of partnership. Sign the dotted line. There. Now there's the way the business will be done. And we get on fine and, and they, they, things are prospering well in a way. And then by and by, Flanagan gets kind of what they call spring fever. And he says, I'm going out for a bit of fishing. Going up the mountains to, have some recreation and, that wasn't in the deed mate. And by and by, I check, come back from Flanagan. He wants money. And working away at the business. Flanagan's working away at the business. Has a big work on hand. A big work. And he has got a, a company, unlimited, in this world, to carry out that work. And you and I are, we're partners with God. Not only the child of God, not only the bride of Christ, but a partner, in God's big business. And that is the church. And I speak of the church, I'm not talking about Church of England, or Zon, or Presbyterian, I'm talking about born again people. Wherever they're assembled together. Wherever they are, church. And I'm a partner with God in this big business, that God has, saving men and women, blessing men and women, hastening on to the coming of Jesus Christ. Well, I get tired of that. Don't like teaching Sunday school anymore. Get tired of the choir. Get tired of the, an officer, been an officer in the church. Don't mind been an officer in the, Masonic Lodge or the, or something else, but the church are just getting tired of it anyhow. And so we're not in the business. We're not doing anything. In God's business. And you imagine, poor old God's got to get that. To take that. And he's got to work, for he said to Jesus, My Father worketh, and so do I. That are working. God's a working God. And you and I are partners with him. But we've got tired. Or maybe we've got kind of disgusted. Or maybe we've got annoyed at God, for the way God does things, and we've quit. And still you expect to get the benefit. Just as truly as you and I could be wise, about the commercial things, God's as wise as you and me anyhow. And you can pray to the crack of doom, brother, but when you've got to get, get something from it, but not. Seek first. Not second. Not third. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. But you see, oh, well, I, I don't see that I should do this, and this, that, and the other for the Lord. Don't like to take too much bother, or if it doesn't hurt me, or doesn't interfere with anything, I might. Ah, no, dear friend. If you'll get this, if you'll take the yoke, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest, but take, and you'll find, you'll find, that's what you see, what you ask for, you'll get, what you seek for, you'll find. Tell me, dear friends, does this solve any of your problems of worthless praying things? It has for me. I've never known a man or woman that was a child of God, by faith in Christ, the bride of Christ, and active in the work of God, that didn't ask, and receive, seek, and find, nothing, and it shall be opened. But if we're not doing these, well, we can't expect God to answer, can we? Just a word in closing, He doesn't say how, how He'll answer you. Would you mind that? Some of us think that we know better than God, and we ask God for a particular thing, and we tell God how, it's got to be done. How it's got to be done. Can't do that. God will arrange you but the how, and God will arrange us the how, it's done. But you see, so many of us, we just think that God's got to barbecue your notions. No, got to leave that to God. Second, when will He do it? I don't know. I don't know. You can't put your fist under God's noses. Jesus Christ said, if it's possible for this cup to pass from me, Father, but not my will, but thy will be done. You've always got to seek God's will about the matter. He knows when it should be done, and He knows how it should be done. We mustn't be impertinent, and begin to tell God when and how, but assure if you and I are children of God by faith, in Christ, we are really the bread of Christ, seeking to serve the Lord, and serving Him. Whatsoever you shall ask, ask anything. When? That's where it's up to God. How? That's up to God. Do you see that? You can leave it in His hands. He'll not be an hour too late, and He'll not do anything that's wrong. It'll be for our good. God working all things together for our good, because we love Him, and it's according to His purpose. It's according to His purpose. He has a plan, He is the architect, and He's working for your good and mine, while we're in the will of God. And He's doing it in His own way, in His own time, and as to how, He knows best. I came across these words, listen. Unanswered yet? The prayer your lips have pleaded, does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing? And think you all in vain, those falling tears? Say not, the Father hath not heard your prayer. You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet? Though when you first presented this one petition at the Father's throne, it seemed you could not wait the time of asking, so urgent was your heart to make it known. Though years have passed since then, do not despair. The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet? Yea, nay, do not say ungranted. Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done. The work began when first your prayer was uttered, and God will finish what He has begun. If you will keep the incense burning there, His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered. Her feet are firmly planted on the rock. Amid the wildest storm she stands undaunted, nor quails before the loudest thundershock. She knows omnipotence has heard her prayer, and Christ, it shall be done, sometime, somewhere. Not adjourned with you, friend. As the Lord has blessed me in this that I am telling you, may it be a blessing to many of you here, that this problem of prayer has been a problem in your life in the past.