DIRECT DEALING WITH GOD IN PRAYER.

A Sermon

PREACHED IN REGENT SQUARE CHURCH,

BY THE

REV. JOHN MCNEILL.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through (or 'in') Christ Jesus."-PHIL. iv. 6, 7.

THE Apostle, in the words of our text, seems to speak exaggeratingly, carelessly, almost harshly, when he says, "Be careful for nothing." But he quickly unfolds his reason for that seeming off-hand dealing with what is to us such a real, such a clinging experience : trouble and anxiety. "Ah!" he says virtually, "I was not harsh. I was not off-hand. Hear me out to the end. Do not interrupt my speech in the middle. Hear all that I have got to say. Be full of care for nothing, but in every thing by

[As this is Synod week, I am obliged to break the regular issue of the Sabbath morning discourse. The present sermon is the continuation of that on the same text, entitled "The Cure for Care" (Vol. II.-No. 23). It is a very simple and also very inadequate treatment of a most pressing and practical matter. But may it do thee good, my dear reader; and be passed on to some troubled neighbour by thee, who greatly needs a hearty 'pax tecum" from God and the Preacher.]

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Vol. III.-No. 25.

prayer and supplication make your requests known unto God."

He says, "Let your requests This injunction is well worthy "The disciples," we are told,

I should like to begin there. be made known unto God." of our emphasis. Tell God. on one occasion, "went and told Jesus." And always when we think of the subject of prayer in its practical aspect, that word comes into our minds-"Go and tell Jesus." And when you are praying to God, remember that God is in Christ, and Christ is in God, and do not be stilted, do not be stiff, do not use falsetto language, but pray freely, openly, pointedly, naturally, to your Heavenly Father about everything. "Let your requests be made known." Ah! how many of us tell God? The word in Greek for making known our requests is the very same word that is used, when we read in the twenty-third chapter of Luke's Gospel that Pilate gave sentence that it should be done according as the chief priests and the great mob and rabble "requested.” Well, that was not very polite "requesting," was it? Look at how they requested, how they asked, how they “let it be known" to Pilate what they wanted done. You read, in a verse or two before, that they shouted. "They cried with a a loud voice, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Away with Him! Not this fellow, but Barabbas!"

But to me it is

very, very wonderful that just that same idea is lying here in this expression, "Let your requests be made known unto God." The fact of the matter is, friends, we barely yet begin to understand how we can pray to God. I find such texts as these, "Ask and ye

"Let your re

shall receive"; "Seek and ye shall find "; quests be made known unto God," and then when I go to religious literature I find that these texts are watered down and divided into ever so many subdivisions. "Ask with resignation to the Divine will"; "And your petitioners will ever pray"; "The humble petition of so-and-so showeth, that, whereas," &c. I am afraid that we have got that idea in our minds. Now, that is not praying. Come to God. There is no person in this world with whom you are safer than when you are on your knees telling God, it may be hotly, it may be with temper, it may be with passion. I want to tear away all the falsity that has gathered round this idea of God, especially with His child, His erring, but humbled, blood-bought, trusting child. Go straight in upon Him. You cannot take Him by surprise, and you cannot, when it comes to the point, be too free with Him. "Let your requests be made known unto God." What do you want? Tell Him. You are not allowed to go down town there into a bank and loaf and loiter about the place, and come to the counter and go back again from the counter. You would be hustled out. It is supposed that if you come, you come for some transaction across the counter, either to put in something or to take out something. When we come to God, let us be as direct at least as in our business transactions. Prayer always means business, and over the door that lets you into the place of prayer God always has this inscription written to guide us, and to warn us, and to put us on our mettle: "No admittance except on business." Do not come to palaver

about this, and that, and the other. If I am to obey rules and rubrics, I will not ask very much. When we went to ask things of our father and our mother long ago, did we stop to ask ourselves greatly if it was in accordance with their will? We went and found that out by-and-bye. We went and asked; we took good care that we let them know what we wanted. I speak openly; I speak, if you like, unguardedly; but what I am driving at is this-understand to whom you are speaking, and let your requests be made known. God will not fly in your face if you should put the thing very urgently and very unguardedly. If you are hot about it, let Him see that you are hot.

Maybe you should
not. Do not go to

not get it. If you should not, you will
Him as if you were drawing up a petition to the Queen.
You would put that into a lawyer's hands, very likely, and
you would take out all your hotness, all your emphasis,
and express yourself in all manner of careful, guarded,
respectful, periphrastic, round-about speech. Do not pray
in that way. For Heaven's sake don't! God does not care
one bit for you to come to Him as a deputation and recite
long texts of Scripture. That is nothing to Him.
"Let
your requests be made known unto God." Everything
that troubles you, tell Him. Ask Him for meat or meal or
money, fish or flesh or good red-herring. Tell Him what
you would rather have. Tell Him your prayer; but for
any sake understand that He is your Father, that the
commissariat department is altogether in His hands as
well as the grace department, that all things are in His
hands, and without Him ye can nothing. And that is

why the Scripture is always telling us, in every way, to pray to God.

The 7th verse gives us the result, if we deal so with God.

If we make prayer our sheet anchor, if we make it the very secret of our life, the very nerve of our strength, this is what will happen: God may not rain down upon us straight out of heaven the things that we want, either temporal or spiritual; but this is what He will do, and it is far better. Let God know, just hot and quick and straight, and to the point. Do not burden yourself-now, I say it deliberately and advisedly-do not burden yourself, and check yourself, and throttle yourself by saying, "I wonder if this is so-andso, and so-and-so, and so-and-so." You will find all this out on your knees. You will find out if the thing is really a thing that should be granted. Pray about it, and if it is not for you, you will wonder how you can ask for it when you hear yourself. When you go to God to ask for it, the blush of shame will come across your face, and you will say, "No; I do not want it." You think that you are in trouble, but when you begin to pray to God about it you will say, "But it is no trouble at all." It was only a madeup trouble. You will find all these things, the balance and proportion of them as regards the Divine will, and so on, on your knees far quicker and better than by staying back. You will see how your prayers may speed if you present them.

Then here is a blessing that will come of this "the peace of God." Go to God with everything that troubles you, my believing brother or sister. He does not say that