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INTRODUCTION
As part of my study habits I like to read different sermons that have been preached. Sometimes these sermons are from more recent preachers, sometimes they are from preachers who shared their messages many years ago. The reasons for me doing this are varied. One, it helps me gain perspectives on various Bible passages that I never really noticed before and so enriches my own study of God?s word; Two, it helps me to develop the preaching/teaching ability God has granted me; Third, for those messages that are older it?s interesting to see what kind of things God was speaking to the church in another time period that may or may not have changed for our time period. God?s word never changes but sometimes the application of His word does.

Every now and then, I come across a sermon and as I?m reading it, I really get a sense of the anointing of God upon it?s words. Recently, this happened as I read a message by R.A. Torrey entitled ?The Power of Prayer?.

R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer. Held evangelistic meetings around the world with song leader Charlie Alexander. Called by D.L. Moody to head the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelization Society (now Moody Bible Institute); Dean of Bible Institute of Los Angeles; pastorates included Chicago Avenue Church (now Moody Memorial Church) and Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles. Wrote more than forty books. (taken from Christian Biography Resources)

Will Houghton, preaching his funeral, said:

“…But those who knew Dr. Torrey more intimately knew him as a man of regular and uninterrupted prayer. He knew what it meant to pray without ceasing. With hours set systematically apart for prayer, he gave himself diligently to this ministry.” (http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=62)

The message I?m sharing with you today is inspired in a great deal by Reuben Torrey?s message, ?The Power of Prayer?. I believe it greatly reinforces what I have been teaching so far this year on prayer. It struck me how even though this is a message that was preached almost 100 years ago ? it is still a very relevant message for today and indeed addresses the same lack of prayer we find in our churches and lives now.

I want to talk today about seven short words found in the letter the apostle James wrote to the church that provide insight into the powerlessness that is often observed in churches and Christian lives today. You will find these seven words in James 4:2, the seven closing words of the verse in the KJV,

Ye have not, because ye ask not
James 4:2 (KJV)

(10 words in NIV)
You do not have, because you do not ask God.
James 4:2 (NIV)

These seven words contain the secret of the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian, of the average minister, and of the average church. Christians may ask, ?Why is it that I don?t seem to grow as much as I?d like to in my Christian life? Why is it that sin always seems to have the upper hand ? that no matter how much I try, I still fail? Why is it that I don?t lead that many people to Christ ? let alone shy away from witnessing about the things that God has done in my life? Why do I grow so slowly into the likeness of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?? God?s answer is found in the words of this text: You have not, because you ask not. Neglect of prayer.

Pastors, and leaders in the church and churches can ask, ?Why is it that the church of Jesus Christ seems to be making such slow progress in our community today? Why does it make so little headway against sin, against unbelief, against error in all its forms? Why does it have such little victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil? Why is the average church member living on such a low plane of Christian living?? Again, God?s answer is: You have not, because you ask not. Neglect of prayer.

The book of Acts is the only inspired church history that was ever written. In this account recorded by Luke (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) we find a story of constant victory, a story of continual growth. Littered through the book of Acts are statements like:

… And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:47 (NIV)

But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
Acts 4:4 (NIV)

Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
Acts 5:14 (NIV)

So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts 6:7 (NIV)

And chapter after chapter, through the twenty-eight chapters of Acts we find the same note of victory. How different the history of the church recorded in Acts is from the history of the church today. Take, for example, that first statement, ?The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved? Think about that for a moment. When?s the last time you can remember there being an influx of people into the kingdom of God in our church ? from our community? Gosh, for that matter, if one person is saved in a five year period, we think we are doing pretty well. But in the book of Acts there was a revival all the time and new people not only being added to the church but who were really transformed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ!

Some may say, yeah but Pastor, things are a lot different between now and then. There?s just so much opposition to the gospel message today. But friends, there was opposition in those days as well. Bitter, determined, relentless opposition in comparison with which that which you and I meet with today is mere child?s play. But you read about the early church and you see a church that went right on facing down every opposition, surmounting every obstacle, conquering every foe, always victorious, right on without a setback from Jerusalem to Rome, in the face of the most firmly entrenched and incredible unbelief and religious opposition. Why? By now, you should know the answer!

Let?s take a closer look at the chapters I?ve already quoted?

(Why is there this difference between the early church and the church of Jesus Christ today?)

Steadfast Prayer

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:42 (NIV)

A very brief picture of course but yet very informative about what was important to the early church. The church of Acts was a praying church. It was a church in which they prayed, not just occasionally, but where they were devoted to prayer. Not only that, but they all prayed, not just a select few, but the entire membership of the church prayed with a steadfast determination to do so.

Acts 6:4 says,

and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:4 (NIV)

Here we have the apostles outlining the priority of their ministry. It was a praying ministry, and a ministry in which they give themselves and their attention continually to prayer. Not only was the church in Acts a praying church but there was also a recognized prayer ministry among the apostles. Friends, as seen in Acts, such a church and ministry can achieve anything that ought to be achieved. It will continue to overcome every opposition, obstacle, and foe just as much today as it did in the days of the apostles.

Yet when we look at the church and ministry of today, or more specifically you and I, this lack of prayer sticks out like a sore thumb. Really, prayer isn?t a priority in our lives. We live in a society of hustle and bustle, of man?s efforts and man?s determination, of man?s confidence in himself and in his own power to achieve things, an age of human organization and human technology, human push and human scheming, and human achievement, which in the eyes of God means no real achievement at all. Many people don?t believe that there are things that will only happen through prayer or believe that prayer is maybe a spiritual task but not a necessity.

In observing the church of Christ today I can say with some degree of certainty that it has never in all of its history been so fully, so skillfully and so thoroughly and so perfectly organized as it is today. Our machinery is wonderful; it?s so well put together but without prayer there?s no power. When things do not go right, instead of going to the real source of our failure, our neglect to depend on God and look to God for power, we look around to see if there is not some new organization we can buy into, some new wheel or cog we can add to the machinery. The problem is, there are already too many wheels. What we need isn?t so much some new program, or new wheel, but to recognize and welcome the Spirit of God already in our midst!

There are times today where I believe the devil stands and looks at the church and laughs in his sleeve as he sees how much we depend on our own scheming and powers of organization and skillfully devised machinery. He laughs as he says, ?you have your children?s ministry, your church buildings, your polished worship teams, your university bred preachers, your wonderful publications, books, conferences and curriculums, your fantastic outreaches ? all you please of them; it does not in least little bit trouble me, if you will only leave out of them the power of the Lord God Almighty sought and obtained by the earnest, persistent, believing prayer that will not take no for an answer.? But when the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, ?he trembles? as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.

Friends, prayer has as much power today, when men and women are themselves on praying ground and meeting the conditions of prevailing prayer, as it ever has had. God has not changed, and He is just as quick to hear the voice of real prayer and His hands are just as ready to save as they ever were,

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Isaiah 59:1-2 (NIV)

Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouse of God?s infinite grace and power. All that God is, and all that God has, are at the disposal of prayer. But we must use the key! Prayer can do anything that God can do, and as God can do anything, prayer is omnipotent. No one can stand against the one who knows how to pray and who meets all the conditions of prevailing prayer and who really prays. Our omnipotent Lord works from him and works through him.

What specifically does prayer do?

Prayer produces spiritual growth and holiness in us more than anything else, except the study of the Word of God.

Prayer will accelerate our individual growth into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as almost nothing else, as nothing else but the study of the Word of God. Remember that these two things, prayer and the study of God?s Word, always go hand-in-hand, for there is not true prayer without study of the Word of God ? this is what helps us discern right motives in what we pray.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3 (NIV)

Likewise, there is no true study of the Word of God without prayer! Friends, your growth and my growth into the likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be in exact proportion to the time and to the heart we put into prayer. That?s important ? so let me repeat it. Your growth and my growth into the likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be in exact proportion to the time and to the heart we put into prayer! It must be put this way, because there are many who put a great deal of time but so little heart into their praying that they do very little praying in the long time they spend at it!

On the other hand, there are others who, perhaps, may not put so much time into praying but put so much heart into praying that they accomplish much, much more by their praying in a short time than the others accomplish by praying in a long time. I think of what God himself spoke to the prophet Jeremiah,

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

Now Paul tells us via his letter to the Ephesian church that God,

?has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)

In other words, Jesus Christ by His atoning death and by His resurrection and ascension into the right hand of the Father has obtained for every believer in Jesus Christ every possible spiritual blessing. There is no spiritual blessing that ny believer enjoys that may not be yours. It belongs to you now; Christ purchased it by His atoning death and God has provided it in Him! It is there for you; but it is your part to claim it, to put out your hand and take it. God?s appointed way for claiming blessing by putting out your hand and appropriating to yourself the blessings that are procured for you by the atoning death of Jesus Christ is by prayer. Prayer opens the door to receiving the blessings God has already provided in His Son.

A survey of the Bible will reveal the truth of the statement that every conceivable spiritual blessing is obtained by prayer. For example,

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 (NIV)

?teaches us that it is in answer to prayer that God searches us and knows our hearts, tries us and knows our thoughts, exposes the sin that there is in us and delivers us from it.

It is in answer to prayer, as we learn from?

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
Psalms 19:12-13 (NIV)

?.that we are cleansed from hidden faults and that God keeps us back from deliberate sin.

It is answer to prayer, as we learn from?

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalms 19:14 (NIV)

That the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart are made acceptable in God?s sight. It is in answer to prayer, as we learn from ?

Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalms 25:4-5 (NIV)

?that God shows us His ways, teaches us His path, and guides us in His truth. It is in answer to prayer, as we learn from the prayer our Lord Himself taught us, that we are kept from temptation and delivered from evil.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Matthew 6:13 (NIV)

It is answer to prayer, as learned from

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:13 (NIV)

?that God gives us His Holy Spirit. I could continue through the entire Bible and compile a catalog of spiritual blessings and find that every one is obtained by asking for it! Indeed, Jesus Himself said in,

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11 (NIV)

Now on the subject of how prayer accelerates our growth and transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ, one of the most instructive and suggestive passages in the entire Bible is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

I want you to picture the image Paul is painting here by describing God?s glory being reflected in believers. Think of those mischievous school days where on a bright sunshiny day someone would catch the rays of the sun in a piece of broken glass/or other shiny object and reflect them into your eyes and mine with almost blinding power. Well we, as mirrors, when we commune with God, catch the rays of His moral glory and reflect them out on the world, ?with ever-increasing glory?. That is, each time we commune with Him we catch something new of His glory and reflect it out on to the world.

Now some of you may remember the story of Moses, how he went up Mount Sinai and lingered there for about 40 days with God, gazing on His incredible glory, and caught so much of the glory in his own face that when he came down from the mount, though he himself didn?t know it, his face shone so much that he eventually had to put a veil over it to hide the blinding glory of it from his fellow Israelites.

Friends, when we approach prayer, away from the world, alone with God, we too catch the rays of His glory, so that when we go among other people, it is not so much our faces that shine (though I do believe that sometimes that does happen), but our characters, with the glory that we have been in the presence of. We then reflect out on the world the moral glory of God, ever-increasing, each new time of communion with Him catching something new of His glory to reflect out on the world. Friends, here is the secret of growing and becoming like Christ by remaining on repeated occasions alone with God! If you don?t spend significant time with Him, you won?t be much like Him.

Some people express surprise that people who say they are Christians today are so little like the one they claim to serve, but really if you think about how little time the average Christian today puts into prayer, the thing that is astonishing, is not that we are so little like the Lord, but that we are as much like the Lord as we are, when we don?t spend time in prayer. So prayer accelerates our growth in becoming like Christ.

Prayer will bring the Power of God into what we do.

but those who hope (or wait on KJV) in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

Listen, it is the privilege of every child of God to have the power of God in what they do. And Isaiah tells us how to obtain it, by ?waiting on the Lord? Every now and then I?m sure you?ve heard someone say, or maybe thought yourself, ?I am trying to serve God in my poor, weak way.? Well, if you are trying to serve God in your poor, weak way, quit it; your duty is to serve God in His strong, triumphant way. You may say, ?I have no natural ability!? Then it?s time to get supernatural ability!

The Christian faith is a supernatural endeavour from start to finish, and we should live our lives in supernatural power, the power of God through Jesus Christ, I and we should perform our service with supernatural power, the power of God ministered by the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. You say, ?I?m not gifted?. Then get supernatural gifts! The Holy Spirit is promised to every believer in order that he may obtain the supernatural gifts which qualify him for the particular service to which God calls him.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
1 Corinthians 12:11 (NIV)

It is ours to have the power of God, if we will only seek it by prayer in every place that God calls us to serve!

Are you a mother of father? Do you wish power from God to help raise your children to know Him and to be like Him? God commands you to do it and especially commands the father to do it. God says in Ephesians 6:4,

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4 (NIV)

Remember, God never commands the impossible (it may seem impossible to us!), and so if commands fathers, and mothers as well to bring up children in the training and instruction of the Lord ? it is possible for us to do it. Listen to me, if any one of your children is not saved, before casting blame on anything else, parents must start at their own door. Paul said to the jailer in Philippi:

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.”
Acts 16:31 (NIV)

So, yeah, it is the duty of every father and mother to see their children come to know God. But as parents, we can never accomplish this unless we are spending time in prayer before God for power to do it! I know of one woman who struggled because of a daughter who went wayward, even though this young woman had been brought up in the church and heard about God and had loving mother who loved Jesus, this daughter got into some bad things and eventually left home, got in the wrong crowd, quit school and was headed down a very destructive path. But you know what, this daughter had one thing going for her that made all the difference, her mother refused to quit praying before God for the return of her daughter and the salvation of her daughter. Because the mother prayed, persistently, and fervently, and consistently ? asking God for His power and for His intervention her daughter is now attending university, going to church, and faithfully serving God.

Moms and Dads, it is your privilege to have every one of your children saved. But it costs something to see them know salvation. It costs you spending much time alone with God, to be in prayer, and it costs also your making those sacrifices and straightening out those things in your life that are wrong, it costs fulfilling the conditions of prevailing prayer. And if any of you here today have unsaved children, when you go home today get alone with God and ask God to show you what is in your own life that is responsible for the present condition of your children. Straighten it out at once and then get spend time alone before God and cling to Him in earnest prayer for the definite salvation of each one of your children. Do not give up, or rest, until by prayer and by your putting forward every God directed effort, you know beyond question that every one of your children is definitely and positively born again!

Do you minister to children, either in Sunday school or at Mighty Tykes? Do you have any influence on children in your extended family ? grandchildren perhaps, nephews, nieces? Do wish to see every single one of these precious children come to Jesus Christ. God has given you this ministry or this influence not merely to teach them about Him or talk about the Bible ? but so that you can diligently pray for their salvation. Do you want power from God to see that come to pass? Ask God for it!

But let?s not stop with parents. Let?s extend to our family ? do you have family members who don?t know God ? how often, how sincerely do you pray for their salvation? What about the place you work ? how sincerely and how often do you pray for your workmates, your fellow employees, your staff?

What about praying for our church, for our city, for our community? Do we want to see God move in a powerful way? Do you want our community transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you want to see the strip bars shut down, the cults disband, the drug trade dry up, the alcoholism dry out, the gambling cash out ? and instead marriages strengthened and made whole, employment skyrocket, poverty disappear, healthy lives, civic leaders that are full of God?s wisdom and knowledge, success in our schools, churches overflowing, and pastors preaching the full gospel under the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit?

Oh, men and women of HPC, if we would spend the time in prayer on our faces before God then we would see days of power in our community! We would see these things happen and even more than we could imagine!

Heed the words of James, ?You do not have, because you do not ask God!?