Intreat Cry Aloud

There is a painting that hangs in a Spanish art gallery. In the background of that painting is a church steeple with a bell tower, and evidently the bell has rung to call the village to a time of prayer, for in the foreground of that old painting is a farmer in the position of prayer. He's kneeling in his field, his straw hat lies beside him, and he's put down his farm implements and team of mule for a time of prayer.

But if you look carefully at this old painting, you can make out the misty figure of an angel who's just taken up the reins to that team of mule and is making a fresh furrow in the soil. And at the bottom of that painting is a brass plate with three words written on it, and they read, There's no time lost, friends, when we go to God in prayer. We must make time to pray, for when we do, all of heaven's resources are enlisted on our behalf.

Prayer is both the mainspring and the heartbeat of the Christian's life. The disciples watched Jesus off and retired to prayer, and they came to him one day, and they said, Lord, teach us to pray. I believe the Bible makes distinctions in regard to prayer.

We're told to have persistence in prayer or importunity, for Jesus taught about the widow who kept bothering the judge, and the judge finally said in desperation, Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And we're told in our Bibles to have faith in prayer by believing, because Jesus told his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, what thing soever you desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Listen, friends, God honors prayer, and he answers prayer, but I believe the Bible talks about another kind of prayer that's different, and that's crying out to God.

Isaiah 30, 19 states, He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry, when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. Did you hear that, friend, at the voice of thy cry? And that is what I'd like to cover today, friends, this aspect of praying and crying out to God in prayer. It's different than ordinary prayer, for this crying out to God in prayer originates at the place of desperation, and ends up at the place of abandonment.

When the storm we're in is too overwhelming, and the obstacles we face are too big for human help, that's when we acknowledge that if we're to receive deliverance, it has to come directly from Almighty God himself. I want us to look at several examples found in my Bible on crying out to God in prayer, to cry aloud. I've recently experienced this personally.

I've been praying to God for deliverance from a deep trial, and I felt like heaven was becoming like brass, and my prayers weren't getting any higher than the ceiling. In desperation, I was praying to God to bring deliverance to me. I was driving down the road and praying, and if you ever see me driving and my lips are moving, I'm not singing to the radio, but engaged in prayer.

But don't worry, I keep my eyes open when I pray, and I try to pray throughout the day every chance I get. Well, here I was driving down the road and praying, and all of a sudden, like, well, when you'd shift a car into high gear, my praying accelerated to a new level. Because my desperation grew deeper and I began to cry aloud to God, I poured out my heart and soul to him at the top of my voice, shouting and crying aloud as I drove down the road.

I did this for a while with tears streaming down my face, and in the midst of my crying out to God, I experienced an abandonment of the weight of my trial. I felt release. I felt that the pointed arrows of my outcries to God had pierced through the thick atmosphere and landed in the throne room of heaven.

God had heard my prayer. I knew it in my heart. I then contacted a fellow evangelist who is a man of prayer, and I shared my experience with him.

He too said that he cries out to God in prayer, and he agreed there's a distinction between praying and crying out to God. Well, I began to research this more in my Bible, and I was startled at what I found, and this is what I want to share with you today, friends. This distinction of prayer and crying aloud to God, they both have the same objective to reach God in prayer.

One is born out of regular habit and prayer through a discipline of daily prayer. The other is birthed from a deep place of utter desperation and dependence upon God in abandonment and prayer. There's an interesting word in our Bibles that describes this aspect of prayer, and it is the word entreated.

The title of my message today, friends, is Entreat, Cry Aloud, and my text can be found in the book of Ezra. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in chapter 8 and in verses 21 through 23.

Let's take a look at this passage now. The book of Ezra records the efforts of the Jewish exiles who returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Ezra was a gifted scribe and a man of prayer, and when we find him in chapter 8, he's leading a group of exiles through the desert as a head toward Jerusalem.

They camp at the river Ahava, and he's faced with a dilemma. The land he's about to cross is dangerous. It's filled with treacherous bandits, and Ezra has been entrusted to guide this group of exiled Jews who have their little children with them, and they're carrying much gold and silver to give to the rebuilding of the temple.

Ezra hits his knees in prayer to get guidance by that river, and he looks to the Almighty, and he determines the best course for action is to seek God earnestly in prayer by proclaiming a fast for the people of God as they prepare their hearts to touch God in prayer. And in our three verses here in chapter 8, we have the setting. Let me read this to us now, friends.

Here now is the word of God, and may the spirit of God attend the reading of his holy word. Then I proclaim the fast there at the river of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance, for I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. Let me pause here, friends.

Ezra was commissioned by King Ar-Exus to teach the statutes of Mosaic law to the people of Israel, so it would have been no problem to ask the king for an army escort on this dangerous route. But Ezra had already testified to the king of God's almighty power and deliverance to those who seek him and place their trust in him. So God's honor is at stake here, and I'll say this, friends.

I've never seen a time when the Holy Spirit is challenged that he doesn't come through. So Ezra makes a decision to not put his trust in man, even a king, but only put his trust in God. And do you know what, friends? That's when God goes to work.

Now, look at our last verse. So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us. I looked up that word entreated in the Greek in my keyword Bible, and this is what I learned.

The fundamental meaning of this word is that of a cry to the Lord for deliverance. It was used in Isaac's prayer, concerning his wife's barrenness, as found in Genesis 25 and 21, and the prayers of Moses to stop the plagues in Egypt, as seen in Exodus 8, 8. Scripture says that the Lord is faithful to hear such prayers, as we see in Job 33, 26. Well, that's exciting news, friends.

Here's Ezra and the people of God. They entreat God in crying out to him in the prayer of desperation and abandonment by that river. They cry loud at the top of their voices, like I did while I was driving down the road in my car, and I felt a breakthrough with God.

I want to read you the mentioned examples of crying out to God, as seen in this word entreat in Genesis 25, 21. We see this principle applied in Isaac's prayer life, and Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord was entreated with him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. God heard Isaac as he cried aloud to God in desperate prayer on behalf of his wife, and our text says God heard him and answered that prayer.

Look at our other example, as seen in the life of Moses, as found in Exodus 8, verses 8 and 12. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, Entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go. Now look at what Moses did, and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs, and we read, and the Lord did according to the word of Moses.

Moses, in his place of desperation, cries aloud to God in prayer by entreating him, and God hears that desperate cry and answers that prayer. Listen, friend, do you have a hard spot in your life that won't go away? Do you have an addiction you cannot kick? Do you face the trial of your life and all human hope is gone? Then entreat God in prayer and cry out to him. Go get alone in the woods or in your car or somewhere where you can holler at the top of your voice and not care who hears you, and in your desperate abandon, abandon yourself to God and cry out to him as you seek him earnestly.

Try it, friend, you may be surprised. Crying out to God in prayer gave me a whole new confidence in the power of prayer. I highly recommend it to you.

Well, I hope this page taken out of the book of Ezra has been helpful to you, friend. It sure has helped me. Next time you're in a jam and you can't get out of it, get out of your shell and cry out to God for help in prayer.

Let us pray.