Gaining the Ear of the Almighty

The greatest need in our land today is a prophet, a man sent from God, a God's man, who will stand in the gap between heaven and earth, between mortal man and almighty God, a holy man of God, who so wholly sold out to God, so intoxicated with Christ and so consumed with eternity, that his very footprints leave a smoky trail of the lingering fire of God. A man whose desperate life of prayer has left fingerprints on the horns of the altar in glory, a man whose emboldened faith and Enoch-like walk with God moves mountains of resistance, and proves that the God of the Bible is alive and interested in the most minute requests of men. In a day where prayerlessness pervades in our powerless churches, and hell spills out all over society, our greatest need, friends, is to understand how to gain God's ear in prayer, and how to move him to action in answering our prayers.

God will never leave a generation without men and women of prayer. In some forgotten corner, there is a man praying, a woman praying, moving the almighty to action in the behalf of mankind and God's glory. Listen, friends.

God will always raise up an Elijah whose prayers impact a sleeping nation. The church in each generation has had individuals who live upon their knees, whose prayers reach heaven with a holy violence. India had her pray and hide.

China, her Hudson Taylor. England, her Puritans. Scotland, her Covenanters.

America, her fiery E.M. Bounds. Voices, which gained the attention of the throne room, startled angels, and shook the gates of hell, making even the demons quake and tremble with their desperate prayers. But I believe there are certain conditions to the prayer that moves the heart of God and makes heaven take notice, and I want to lay out these conditions and aspects of a powerful prayer life today.

Take out your pens and notepads, friends, for we will go over in depth how to gain access to the throne room of the almighty through desperate and burdened prayer. I do not have one main text or passage of scripture today, but several which I believe will demonstrate to us how to gain the ear of the almighty through prayer. As we proceed, I'll give them to you.

First, I want to give you my major heads and my message today on the conditions of powerful prayer, and then I will elaborate on each as we go forward, giving you the word of God to back it up. And the first aspect of prayer is this. Number one, the proper heart condition to prayer.

Number two, the petition of desperate and burdened prayer. Number three, the faith of prayer. Number four, the restating of God's promises in prayer.

And number five, the persistence in prayer. Well, let's look at this first aspect of gaining God's ear through prayer. I believe the word of God clearly demonstrates to us how to approach him, how to seek his face in prayer.

Turning your Bible's friends to the book of Isaiah to chapter 57, and we will be in verse 15. I believe this verse speaks very clearly to what I mean by our personal approach to God. I recently went to the emergency room with the warning signs of a heart attack.

I woke at 2.30 a.m. with a sharp pain in my neck and shoulders, and the pain went down my entire arm and it would not go away. They ran an EKG blood work and an x-ray to determine the condition of my heart. All my tests came back good, and I was eventually released from that hospital, but I had warning signs of heart trouble, which alarmed me.

And the warning sign of a backslidden believer who's hard away from God is prayerlessness. Their Bible's a closed book, and they have dry eyes when they pray. There's a failure to have a consistent gospel witness to others.

The Bible clearly speaks as to how God keeps his distance from the proud and the self-righteous. Listen now to how he describes those rare individuals who have an audience with him from Isaiah 57. For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also, that is, of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

This speaks of the first aspect of the proper heart condition to prayer. Look also, friends, at Psalm 24. Psalm 24 we have requirements to ascend into the holy hill of the Lord.

What are they? Listen to verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. I repeat, friends, there's an aspect of the proper heart condition in prayer if we approach God, and we are not walking in a close and vital relationship with him, then we are away from him when our heart we've left our first love. We must examine our hearts before him, and realign ourselves to him in a right relationship under his lordship.

Now let's look at the second aspect in gaining the ear of the Almighty in prayer, and that is, the petition of desperate and burdened prayer. God hears desperate prayer, friends. One only has to peer into the life of Hannah in 1 Samuel to see her burdened heart as she prays to Almighty God for a son.

Eli the priest admonishes her for being drunk, but she was merely drunk with the presence of Almighty God. Listen to her reply, as seen in chapter 1, verse 15, And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

Listen, friends, is this the portrait of Hannah, not the picture of burdened, desperate prayer poured out before the Lord as a drink offering? Let me ask you, friend, when was the last time you poured out your soul before the Lord? Listen to what it says here in James, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Is there heat and fervency to your praying? Is there a burden on your heart? So there must be this aspect of the petition of desperate and burdened prayer to gain the ear of God. Now I want to see this third aspect of the faith of prayer.

In the New Testament, there was a man who was sick, and he had some friends who were willing to go the extra mile to get their friend to Jesus. Look in your Bible, friends, at the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter nine, beginning at verse one, And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed.

And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, that sins be forgiven thee. And we see in verse six, Jesus' healing of the man. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.

And he arose, and departed to his house. And I want to read you, friends, how the Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, wrote wisely on this section of the faith of friends from this portion of Matthew's Gospel. Matthew Henry wrote, The faith of friends.

Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the paralytic himself, as well as of them that brought him. Their faith was a strong faith. They believed that Jesus Christ could and would heal him, else they would not have brought the sick man to him so publicly, and through so much difficulty.

Secondly, see their humble faith. Though the sick man was unable to stir a step, and they would not ask Jesus to make a visit, but brought him to Christ. And thirdly, see their active faith.

They brought the sick man to him, lying on a bed, which could not be done without a great deal of pain. So there's this aspect, friends, of the faith of prayer. Do we really believe God will do what we ask of him? Is our faith weak? Is our faith little? Jesus was continually admonishing his disciples about their weak and little faith.

Jesus was trying to grow them into the men of Pentecost. Now I want us to look at the next aspect of gaining God's ear through prayer, and that is the element of the restating of God's promises in prayer. And to give you a wonderful example of this, turning your Bibles to Exodus chapter 32, as we look at how Moses used the promises of God in his prayer with the Almighty when the people had turned away from God and made the golden calf.

God wanted to destroy the rebellious Jews, but Moses intercedes for them, reminding God of the great things he's already done for Israel. We see this in verse 11. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Then Moses does an amazing thing here, friends.

Moses restates the promises of God to his people. Listen. Listen to verses 13 and 14.

Listen to how Moses asked God to remember what he already stated and promised in his word. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

There's some striking aspects of this passage, friends, and I'd like to bring them before you. When we pray to God, we must stand on his promises. And believe them without doubting, because God is true to his word, and his word is true.

Here Moses says, in effect, look, God, you swore by your own self to these things. How can you go back on your word? You cannot. You must be true to your word.

In my own life, friends, I've been in some pretty tough places, some extended periods of extreme adversity and trial. And during these times, I've stood on the word of God and reminded God of what he'd already promised me in his written word, that his very integrity is at stake, and he must come through with a mighty deliverance because he must be true, must be true to his written word. Listen, friends, we learn how to pray in our hardest seasons of life.

Listen to me, dear friends. When God allows us to go through a trial or storm, he has a larger purpose and view. He often brings us to places of brokenness, where we become like the broken alabaster box.

For to be broken alabaster boxes means to have a fragrant life, pleasing to the Lord. We become better prayer warriors through trials, and our faith is tested and proved through these tribulations. For prayer life that grips the attention of the heavenly throne room is not built beneath calm, sunny skies, but shaped during dark, sorrow-filled nights.

A serious prayer life is hammered out on the anvil of pain and anguish, desperation and despair, when hope hangs on a tattered thread and all human resources are gone. There and only there does the answer to the request come. Here is where the vital prayer life commences, which gains the cupped ear of the Almighty, as he leans over to listen more intently to the pathetic sobs and anguished heart-cries, which in desperation reach out and grab hold of his robe of righteousness, and do not let go until the answer is attained.

To become a person of prayer is to be a shrill, holy note, which continually rings the ears of angels and rattles the gates of glory. A true prayer life is not born out of comfort and prosperity, but through trials and adversities. In your leanness you will learn to lean upon him.

Though you're rolling on stormy seas, you will learn how to effectively storm heaven's portals for deliverance. When friends fail, disappoint, and desert you, you will seek and find favor with your faithful friend, Jesus. A desperate life of prayer shakes the gates of hell and influences a generation, all for the glory of God.

Do you believe that, friends? I do. A strong prayer life will make you fear God and not man. Let me finish this message with the final aspect of gaining the ear of the Almighty, and that is the persistence in prayer.

The Bible word for this is importunity. Look at this example found in Luke's Gospel, in chapter eighteen, and beginning in verse one. And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that man ought to always pray, and not to faint, saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man.

And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I will stop there. Notice, friends, that Jesus lays out here the importance of persistence in prayer to gain God's ear. Let me ask you a question.

Do you have a need? Do you have a plaguing problem? Do you need God to deliver you, to meet you in a special way? Then are you crying out to him day and night? Are you troubling him, bothering him, pestering him in prayer? I believe as a father smiles at a son who does not quit, but keeps on trying to obtain what he desires, that God his Father delights in our coming to him in persistent and fortunate prayer. So there you have it, these elements of desperate and burdened prayer. Oh friends, God delights in sacrifice, and your prayer life must have a sacrifice attending it.

What counts costs, and what costs counts. Well, I hope this has helped us somehow to have a better prayer life. Let us go now to God and prayer.