Hindrance to Prayer

“Ve lust, and have not; ye kill, and covet, and cannot obiain; ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it 1m your pleasures.’ — JAMES 4: 2, 3,

FE have for our study today an exceedingly im-W portant subject; that subject is, Hindrances to Prayer, or, Why it is that God oftentimes does not answer the prayers of His children. Please turn with me in your Bibles to James 4:2, 3: Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.”

In the second verse we are told that the reason why we do not have the things that we earnestly desire and urgently need is because we do not ask for them, because we do not pray: we are told that “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” We are told that the secret of our poverty and powerlessness is neglect of prayer. We are told that we may put forth the most strenuous activity to get things that we need — lust, kill, covet, fight and war, — and yet fail to get them because we do not pray. In studying this verse some days ago we saw very clearly that the great secret of the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian, the average minister, and the average church, was neglect of prayer. But in the third verse we are told that we may pray and still not obtain, because “Ye ask amiss,” or, as the Greek word translated “‘ amiss” means, “Ask evilly, wrongly, or improperly;” that is to say, that there is something that hinders God from an-Swering our prayers.

As I have spoken in these recent days on the mighty power of prayer, and of the great and wonderful things prayer brings to pass, I do not doubt many of you have said to yourselves, ‘‘ Well, my prayers have no such power as that. God doesn’t hear and answer my prayers that way. Why is that? Is it because what the Bible teaches about prayer is not true? Is it because God does not answer prayer? Is it because God in olden times answered prayer but does not answer it any longer? No, not at all. It is for none of those reasons. Why is it then? It is because there is something in your own life, or in your heart, that makes it impossible for God to answer your prayers. It is because there is something in your case that hinders prayer.

Now today we are to study what these hindrances to prayer are, what the things are in our hearts, or in our lives, that make it impossible for God to answer our prayers. And I trust that when you see what the things are that prevent God answering your prayers, you will give them up today and thus get into a place where you can not only pray but also obtain.

Il. A Wronc MotTIvE IN Our PRAYERS

The first hindrance to prayer you will find right in our text. Let me read it again, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.’ The Revised Version reads a little differently and more exactly, more correctly, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.’ The first thing, then, that hinders prayer, the first thing that makes tt impossible for God to answer our prayers, 1s a selfish purpose in our prayers. We ask for things we have a right to ask for, things that it is the will of God to give us, but we ask for them in a wrong way; that is, we ask from a wrong motive, we ask for them for our own selfish gratification, that (as the Bible puts it) we “may spend it in our pleasures.” What ought to be our motive in our prayers? The Bible answers that question very plainly and very explicitly in I Cor. 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat, or! drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Here we are told distinctly that in everything we do, even in our eating and drinking, the glory of God should be our main object in doing it. If that is true of the simplest duties of every-day life, it certainly must be true of our praying. Our supreme motive im our prayers should be that God may be glorified by answering our prayers; not that we may get some gratification, but that God may get glory to Himself. This thought comes out again and again in the Bible. For example, the Lord Jesus says in John 14: 13, in that wonderful promise we have quoted so often, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ Then in that prayer that our Lord Himself taught us, as recorded in the sixth chapter of Matthew, the prayer begins with these words, “Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name,” clearly showing us that the first thing in our prayers should be the hallowing of God’s own name, the glorifying of God Himself. Then again in John 17:1, that marvelous prayer that our Lord Jesus offered the night before His crucifixion, the real “Lord’s prayer,” our Lord began with these words, “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.’ Whatever we ask of God in prayer, the first great purpose we have in asking anything should be that God may be glorified in giving it. But that this is very far from the thought of many of us when we pray will be evident from a few simple illustrations.

For example, how many a Christian woman is praying for the conversion of her husband. Now that certainly is a proper thing to pray for; indeed, I cannot see how any truly converted woman can rest, or give God rest day or night, until her husband is truly converted and born again. But as proper as that prayer is, it often fails because the wife who offers it is praying for the conversion of her husband from a purely selfish motive. She thinks to herself, ‘‘ How much happier our married life would be if both husband and I were Christians; then we would sympathize in the deepest interests of life, and we would know what real marriage means.” Now that is all true. No two persons can know the deepest joys of married life, and the real meaning of true marriage, where one is saved and the other unsaved; where one is “a believer” and the other is “an unbeliever.” But to pray for the conversion of your husband for that reason is pure selfishness; a refined selfishness it is true, but nevertheless selfishness.

Or a woman often prays for the conversion of her husband because she cannot bear the thought that her husband should be lost forever. That, too, is pure selfishness; refined selfishness, but nevertheless selfishness. Why should a wife pray for the conversion of her husband? First of all, and above all else, in order that God may be glorified in the conversion of her husband; because she cannot bear it that God should any longer be dishonoured by the Christless, Godless, God-disobeying life of her husband; in order that God may be glorified by her husband obeying God and doing the first thing that God demands of every man, believe on His Son the Lord Jesus Christ; in order that God may be glorified in her husband ceasing his rebellion against God and his wicked life, and giving himself up to Jesus Christ and His service; that should be the supreme motive for which a Christian woman prays for the conversion of her husband. And when a woman gets to praying for the conversion of her husband along that line, it will not be long before she sees him converted.

But how far that is from the thought of many a woman who is praying most earnestly, and even agonizingly, for the conversion of her husband, is very evident from the way in which she speaks to you about her husband. They will come to you and say, “I wish you would pray for my husband that he may be converted; he is such a good man. It is true he is not a Christian, but he is such a good man.” Could any woman who had any proper conception of the infinite majesty and glory of God, or the Divine majesty and dignity of His Son, Jesus Christ, call a man, no matter how kind he might be to her and just to others, “a good man” when he is disobeying God in the very first thing that God demands of him, that he believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and when he is trampling under foot the glorious Son of God; calling such a man “a good man” just because he is her husband? No, no, no, he may be your husband, he may be kind and generous and excellent in many ways, but if he is rejecting

Jesus Christ he is a wicked, stubborn, rebel against God. You may love him, you ought to love him, but do not dishonour God by calling him good; but cry to God for His conversion not merely that you may have the joy of seeing him converted, and not merely that he may have the joy of being converted and be saved from an eternal hell, but in order that God may be glorified in his conversion. Pray that way and it will not be long before you see your husband converted.

Take another illustration. Many a minister, and many a professing Christian, is praying for a true revival. That certainly is a proper prayer; that certainly is a prayer that is according to God’s will; it is a Bible prayer, for we read in Psalm 85:6 this prayer: “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” Yes, that is a perfectly proper prayer; indeed, I cannot see how anyone who is a real Christian can keep from praying that prayer with intense earnestness in days such as you and I are living in. But one may, and men often do, offer that prayer from an entirely selfish motive. Many a minister is praying for a revival in his church from a purely selfish motive. I received a letter once from a minister, the pastor of a church, beseeching me to come and hold a meeting with him, and he wrote, “I am losing my hold upon my people, and if I do not have a revival I will have to give up my church.” In other words, he wanted a revival merely that he might hold his living. That perhaps was an extreme case, but there are many that are essentially the same; both ministers and members praying for a revival in order that there may be an increase of members in the church; in order that the church may have a larger prestige in the community; in the hope sometimes that some of the rich people in the community may be converted and so the burden of supporting the church will not be so heavy upon them, or for many other purely selfish reasons.

Why ought we to pray for a revival? In order that God may be glorified by a revival; because we can no longer bear it that God should be dishonoured by the low level of living among professed Christians, and by the increase of wickedness and Godlessness in the world; because we can no longer endure it that God should be dishonoured by the loud spoken infidelity so common among men today, and by the even more dangerous infidelity of many of our church members, and even of some alleged preachers of the Gospel today; in order that God may be glorified by the church being brought up to that level of Christian life that will glorify God, and by the conversion of sinners, and by stopping the mouths of unbelievers, and by delivering some of our church members and our preachers from dangerous heresy and unbelief to a God-honouring faith in God’s Word and the truth contained in His Word. In order that God may be glorified; that is why we should pray for a revival. But how far that is from the thought of many that are praying for a revival today..

Take still another illustration. There are a great many ministers and members in our churches today who are praying that they may be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That is certainly a proper prayer, a prayer that pleases God, a prayer that has abundant warrant in the Word of God, for the Lord Jesus distinctly tells us in Luke 11: 13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” And we read in the record in the Acts of the Apostles, in Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Yes, indeed, it is a proper prayer; and I cannot understand how any Christian can rest until he is baptized with the Holy Spirit, and knows it. But there is much prayer for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, or the filling with the Holy Spirit, which is purely selfish. Men and women pray for the Baptism with the Holy Spirit because they think they will be happier if they are thus baptized. They know men and women who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, and such a new and radiant and glorious joy has come into their lives that they want it too. Or, it may be that they pray for the baptism with the Holy Spirit because they know someone else who has been baptized with the Holy Spirit anda new power has come into their service, and they want the baptism with the Holy Spirit in order that they, too, may be more prominent and successful in their work for God. Now all this is pure selfishness, and one can pray for the baptism with the Holy Spirit in that way until the crack of doom and never obtain it.

Why should we desire the baptism with the Holy Spirit? Or why, if we have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, should we pray for a new filling with the Holy Spirit? In order that God may be glorified in our being baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit. Because we can no longer endure it that God should be any longer dishonoured by the low level of our living, and by the ineffectiveness of our service; in order that God may be glorified by our being empowered to lead such lives as honour Him; in order that God may be glorified by our having the power in His service that we ought to have; in order that God may be glorified by our being baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit — that is why we should pray for it. And when we get to praying for the baptism with the Holy Spirit along that line it will not be many hours before we are thus baptized with the Spirit of God. But how far this is from the thought of many that are praying for the baptism with the Holy Spirit is very evident from the way they talk, and the way they pray.

A friend of mine was holding a meeting in a town in New York State, near the Hudson River. At one of his morning services he spoke upon the baptism with the Holy Spirit. As he went away from the meeting one of the ministers of the town walked with him. They had not gone far when this minister said, “I greatly enjoyed your address this morning. That baptism of the Holy Spirit that you were talking about is just what I need, and that is what I am going to have.” Now that sounded very encouraging, but the minister went on to say, “I have a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year. I believe if I had that baptism of the Holy Spirit that you have been talking about I could get fifteen hundred dollars a year.” Now you smile at that, but it is really shocking, indeed appalling. It may be an extreme case, but it illustrates a tendency of thought that is exceedingly common among professed Christians and among ministers today who are praying that they may be baptized with the Holy Spirit, or that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, brethren, when you and I come to see this thing in the Bible light, come to see how God-dishonouring our lives are, and come to long for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, or filling with the Holy Spirit, not that we may be blessed, but that God may be glorified, it will not be long before we are baptized with the Holy Ghost.

II. Sin IN THE HEART or LIFE

You will find a second hindrance to prayer set forth in Isaiah ’59:1,°2> *° Behold, the Mord’s hand: 1s” not shortened, that it cannot save: neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your miquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Here we are distinctly told that the reason in many instances why God does not answer prayer is, because our iniquities and our sins have separated between us and our God, and hid His face from us, that He will not hear. The people of Isaiah’s time were saying, “God does not answer prayer any longer. He may have answered it in the days of Moses; He may have answered in the days of Elijah, but He does not answer any longer. Either His ear is heavy, that it cannot hear; or His hand is shortened that it cannot save.” “No, no,” says Isaiah, “the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save: neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” The trouble is not with God, the trouble is with you. ‘‘ Your iniquitics have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” Sin in our hearts or lives makes it impossible for God to answer our prayer, even though the thing for which we are praying is entirely according to His will.

If you are praying for something and you do not get it, do not conclude that God does not answer prayer; do not conclude that God does not answer prayer today just as He did in the olden times; do not conclude that this thing that you are asking for is not according to the will of God. Go alone with God, ask Him to search your heart, and ask Him to show you whether there is anything in your past life that you have done that was wrong that you have not set straight, any past sin that you have not judged, or whether there is anything in your life today that is displeasing to Him. And then wait silently before Him and give Him an opportunity to show you. And if He shows you anything, confess it to Him as sin and give it up. If you will not do this, then there is not the least use in your trying to pray, nothing will come of your prayers; and it will not be because God does not hear prayer today just as much as in former days; it is not because the arm of the Lord is shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that He cannot hear. God’s ear is just as sharp to hear the voice of true prayer as it ever was, and His hand is just as long and just as strong to save as it ever was, “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” Right at this point we find the full explanation of why it is that many of our prayers are not heard and bring nothing to pass.

I had a very striking illustration of this in my own life some years ago, an experience which I have never forgotten. I had started out to carry on the work that God had given me to do in Minneapolis without any pledges for its support, and without taking up any contributions or collections of any kind, but simply looking to God by prayer to furnish the money for the work. I do not believe that God asks every man to do that, or even that He asks the same man to always do it, but I was entirely sure that God had told me to do it at that time, and I had stepped out in simple faith in God. I had had a strong society back of me who paid me a generous salary, paid for the rent of the various halls, paid for the missionaries J] employed, paid for all the work that was done; but I saw that the time had come when I should step out in simple faith in Him, and so I asked the society that had been back of me if they would turn the work over to me to carry it on in that way. I told them what they knew to be true, that there was a great deal of other work they ought to be doing and they needed their money for that other work. Somewhat reluctantly but very kindly they acceded to my request, and in a single day I cut off every source of income I had in the world. from that time every penny that came for the support of myself and wife and four children that I had at that time, every penny that came for rent of halls, lights, fuel, and everything else, every penny that came for my missionaries, came in answer to prayer. We took up no collections, had no subscriptions, no one was ever asked for money, no one but God. A great many people were watching the experiment, many of them very sympathetically, others possibly quite critically, though I must say that for an experiment that must have seemed to an outsider so crazy it was received, as far as I know, with kindness everywhere.

And the money came day after day, and week after week, and month after month; not from the old sources, almost entirely from new sources. Sometimes it came in small amounts; sometimes in large amounts; sometimes it came in ways most ordinary, and sometimes in ways apparently very extraordinary. But it came. But one day it did not come, that is to say, I had obligations that I must meet very soon and no money to meet them. When I went home that night, before I retired, I took the matter to God in prayer and asked Him to send me that money, not only that the work might go on, but that His name might not be dishonoured by an apparent failure on His part to answer prayer. But I went to bed, I am afraid, without very much clear faith that the money would come. I was all alone in the house. In the middle of the night I was awakened by great pain and physical distress; I was very sick. I looked up to God and cried to Him that He would touch my body and heal me, and that He would send that money; but there was no answer. Again I cried to God to touch my body and send that money. Still no answer.. It seemed as though the heavens above my head were brass; it seemed as if there were no God there, and the Devil came and taunted me. He said, as he said to the Psalmist of old, “Where is thy God? There is no God, or if there is a God he does not answer prayer in the way which you have been teaching people that He does.”

I was in great distress of soul as well as body; it seemed as if the very billows of hell were going over my head; it seemed as if the cherished faith of years was going by the board. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been where it seemed the faith which you cherished for years, and that you thought was so well founded, was going by the board? Well, that was where I was. And again I cried to God, “Touch my body, heal me, and send that money.” No answer. Then I looked up and I said, “Heavenly Father, if there is anything wrong in my life anywhere, show me what it 1s and I will give it up.” Instantly God brought up something that had often come up before to trouble me, but every time it would come up I would say, “That’s all right. I know it’s all right. There is nothing wrong about that,” but all the time in the bottom of my heart I knew it was wrong. Have you anything of that kind in your heart and life, something that always comes up when you get nearest to God to trouble you, and ‘yet which you try to persuade yourself is right and say to yourself, “‘That’s all right. I know it’s all right. I am sure it is all right, it is all nonsense to think that that is wrong?” Well, so it was with me. It came up again very vividly and I looked up and said, “Oh, God, if this thing is wrong in Thy sight, I will give it up now.” No answer. In the depths of my heart I knew it was wrong, but I said, ‘“Oh, God, if it is wrong in Thy sight I will give it up.” There was no answer. Then I cried, “Oh, God, this thing is wrong; it is sin. I give it up now.” Instantly God touched my body, immediately I was as well as I am this moment, and the money came and the work went on.

When? When I judged my sin. Oh, men and women, if you are praying, praying, praying for something and not getting it, I beg of you, do not fancy that God does not answer prayer; do not decide that the thing that you are praying for is not according to God’s will! God may be dealing with you, may be trying to bring you to your senses and to Himself. Go alone with God and honestly ask Him to show you if there is anything wrong in your heart or life, anything that is displeasing to Him; and when He shows you, set it straight at once and you will find an open Heaven, and a God who answers prayer, a God whose ear is not only quick to hear prayer in general, and whose hand is not only strong to save in general, but a God whose ear is quick to hear your prayer, and whose hand is long and strong to give immediate deliverance to you. Oh, how many things there are that we greatly need and that we might have at once if we would only judge and put away our sin!

III. Ipots In THE HEART

Now let us turn to Ezekiel 14: 1-3, and we will find that God tells us very plainly of a third hindrance to prayer. Let me read, “Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?” The elders of Israel had come to Ezekiel to pray for them; it was a day of great seeming triumph for Ezekiel. For a long time, for days and months, perhaps for years, Ezekiel had been longing for the time when the elders of Israel would come to their senses and come to him and ask him to pray for them, and the time seemed to have come, and with a glad heart Ezekiel was about to go to God in prayer for them, and for the people. But God suddenly stops him, He says, “Ezekiel, do not pray for these men, they have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?” Here we are clearly told that idols in the heart make it wmpossible for God to attend to our prayers.

In Japan and China and India and other non-Christian lands they set up their idols in their temples and in their homes, but the Jews, and we Christians also today, set up our idols in our hearts. There are no hideous images on our mantles or in other places in our homes, but there are idols in the hearts of many of us which make it just as impossible for God to answer our prayers as if we had the most hideous images in our home or in our churches.

What is an idol? An idol is anything that a man puts before God. Many a man makes an idol of his wife. No man can love his wife too much; the more truly a man loves God, the more deeply and tenderly he will love his wife, but a man can put his wife in the wrong place, he can put his wife before God. Many a man, many a professing Christian man, many an active Christian man, does things to please his wife that he knows do not please God. He is making an idol of his wife; he is not on praying ground. Many a wife also makes an idol of her husband. No wife can love her husband too much, the more truly a woman loves God, the more deeply and tenderly she will love her husband, but a wife can put her husband in the wrong place, she can put her husband before God, and she can do things to please her husband that she knows do not please God. How many a wife is doing it in these days; how many a wife is doing things in the matter of dress, in the matter of social engagements, in the matter of amusements, and in other matters, to please her husband that she knows full well in her heart do not please God. She is making an idol of her husband, and she is not on praying ground.

We can make idols of our children. We cannot love our children too much; the more truly we love God, the more deeply and tenderly we will love our children, but we can put our children in the wrong place; we can put our children before God, and we can do things to please our children that we know do not please God. How many Christians are doing that very thing today. How many Christian fathers and mothers are allowing forms of amusement and social entertainment, and other things in their homes, that they know are displeasing to God, but their children want them. They are making idols of their children, and they are not on praying ground. How many

a a professedly Christian father and mother have a beautiful daughter for whom they are seeking a brilliant match with a man of wealth or culture or social position, and the man whom they are cultivating as a prospective husband for their Christian daughter is not a Christian man. He is gifted, he is talented, he is rich perhaps, very likely he has a delightful personality, but he is not a Christian; and, in spite of the fact that they know perfectly well that God commands in the most unmistakable terms in IT Cor. 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,’ (and by unbelievers here is not meant infidels, but unbelievers in the New Testament sense as including all who have not believed on Jesus Christ with a living faith, believed on Him with the faith that receives Him as Saviour and Lord), knowing this, in deliberate violation of God’s written law, they are seeking this brilliant match for their daughter. They have made an idol of their daughter and her future prosperity and prospects. They are not on praying ground.

Many make idols of social position. How many professedly Christian men and women there are, quite earnest men and women in some respects oftentimes, who are doing things to secure or maintain a social position that they desire to occupy, which they know are not right in the sight of God. One time Major Whittle, the evangelist, was holding meetings in the City of Washington, D. C. A very old friend of his was at the time occupying a very high position in the United States Government. This friend invited Major Whittle to his beautiful Washington home. One day he was showing Major Whittle about the home, and as they went from room to room they came into a very large and beautifully decorated room. Major Whittle glanced around it and then said to the man, “What is this room for?” The man evaded an answer, but Major Whittle was not a man easily put off, and he repeated his question, “What is this room for?” The man replied, “Well, Major, if you must know, it is a ballroom.” Major Whittle looked at him sternly and said, “Do you mean to tell me that you have fallen so low in the moral scale that you have a ballroom in your home?” The man dropped his head and said, “Major, I did not think I would ever come to this, but here we are in Washington society and my wife and daughter told me that we must do this to maintain our position in society, and I have yielded to them.” He and his wife had made an idol of social position, and right dearly did he pay for it before he got through, and right dearly did she pay for it.

The temptation to make an idol of our reputation is peculiarly real with ministers of the gospel. We ministers of the gospel know perfectly well that in this day in which we are living, which puts such an extraordinary and absurd value upon what it calls advanced thought and original thinking, that if a minister is true to the old God-given doctrines, no matter how scholarly and how brilliant he may be, he will be by a great many persons rated as not scholarly and not up-to-date. And yet, on the other hand, no matter how little a scholar a man may be, or how poor a thinker he may be, if he throws out views that are a little off colour, or a great deal off colour, he will at once be rated as “a great thinker,’ as fully abreast of the times, a great scholar. So many a minister who really is perfectly sound at heart in his own views, will throw out a little suggestion now and then in order to make people realize that he is abreast of the times, that will undermine the faith of the young men and young women in his congregation. He has made an idol of his reputation, and lost his power in prayer. Or again, we ministers often realize that if we use a very ornate rhetoric, and theatrical modes of address, we will not win so many souls to Christ as we will by preaching the simple, straight gospel, but we will get a far greater reputation as pulpit orators; and many a man in the pulpit today has sacrificed his real power for God by cultivating an elaborate and highly polished rhetoric and oratorical methods of delivery that awakened the admiration and applause of shallow men and women, but it robbed him of real power for God. Such men have made an idol of their reputation and are not on praying ground.

Oh, men and women, if you covet power in prayer, go alone with God and let Him search you; ask Him to show you if there is any idol in your heart, and when He shows it to you, do away with it today.

“The dearest idol I have known,
Where ere that idol be,
O God, help me to tear it from its throne
And worship only Thee.”

IV. AN UNFORGIVING SPIRIT

Our Lord Jesus Christ sets forth a fourth hindrance to prayer in Mark 11:25, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”’ Here we are distinctly told that an unforgiving spirit makes it impossible for God to answer our prayers. All of God’s answering our prayers is upon the basis of God’s dealing with us as forgiven sinners, and God cannot deal with us as forgiven sinners while we are not forgiving those who have wronged us. I believe we touch here upon one of the most frequent causes of unanswered prayer, bitterness in our heart toward someone who has wronged us, or whom we fancy has wronged us. How many a wife is praying, praying earnestly, praying with an almost breaking heart, for the conversion of her husband, but all the time she has bitterness in her heart toward someone who has wronged her, or whom she fancies has wronged her. Woman, are you willing that your husband should be eternally lost for the poor miserable gratification of hating somebody who has wronged you, or whom you fancy has wronged you? How many a mother is praying, praying so earnestly, for the conversion of her son, and all the time that she is praying for the conversion of her son she has bitter hatred in her heart toward some other woman who has wronged her, or whom she fancies has wronged her. Woman, are you willing that your son should go down to an eternal hell for the poor, miserable gratification of hating somebody? If we wish power in prayer, let us search our hearts today, and let us look to God to search our hearts and bring to light any enmity that there may be in our heart toward anybody, and if we find that there is such enmity, no matter how much that person may have wronged us, let us give it up and let the Spirit of God come into our hearts, that Spirit who makes us love everybody, even our cruelest enemy.

When Mr. Alexander and I were holding meetings in Launceston, Tasmania, we had a day of fasting and prayer. There was an active Christian man in the community who had a son-in-law, and he and his wife had had some trouble with that son-in-law and they had forbidden his ever coming under their roof again. At the morning service I spoke, as I always did on the day of fasting and prayer, on hindrances to prayer. When [f got to this part of my sermon the man was deeply convicted of that sin. As he went away from the meeting to his home at the noon hour he got to thinking of it, and he wondered to himself whether he ought to write his son-in-law. Just as he was reaching home he was wondering whether he ought to speak to his wife about this matter. He went up the steps, reached out his hand to open the door, still thinking about this. Unknown to him, his wife had been at the meeting also, and as he reached out to open the door his wife opened the door from the other side and instantly said, “Telegraph him to come at once.” And they did. And power in prayer came into the life of that man and woman. And there are some of you here this morning who have had no power in prayer for days, or weeks, or months, or it may be for years, simply because of some bitterness that you have in your heart toward someone. There is no use whatever of your praying until you let God cast that bitterness out. Listen again to the words of Jesus Christ Himself, “When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

V. STINGINESS IN Our GivING

Now turn with me to a deeply significant passage of Scripture that throws great light on the subject that we are studying, Proverbs 21:13, “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Here God distinctly tells us that if we stop our ears to the cry of the poor when they cry unto us for help, He will stop His ears to us when we cry unto Him for help. The one who is small, and mean, and stingy, and niggardly in his giving, cannot be a mighty man of prayer. This thought runs all through the Bible, we are told it over and over and over again. Read, for example, Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

Here God distinctly tells us that He measures out His benefactions to us in exactly the same measure that we measure out our benefactions to others. And some of us use such teenty, tinty pint cup measures in our giving that God can only give us a pint cup blessing. God puts His gifts into our lives in answer to our prayers in through the same door that we give out our benevolences to others, and some of us open the door of our benevolences such a wee crack that God can only get in the weeest blessing to us.

Turn to another passage, one of the most familiar promises in the Bible, a promise that one hears in almost every prayer-meeting that they attend, and yet a promise that is constantly quoted without any reference whatever to the connection and to the condition of fulfillment implied in the connection. Phil 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What a wonderful promise it is, but the English Revised Version makes it even more wonderful. “And my God shall fulfil,” turn that word ‘ fulfil’ around and you get exactly what the Greek word signifies ‘ fill full’: let me read it that way, “And my God shall fill full every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” One of the elders of our church in Chicago got up one night in our prayer-meeting and said, “I thank God, brethren, that there is one promise in the Bible without any condition”; and then he quoted this passage, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I stopped him; I said, “Hold on a minute, Brother H, there is a condition; it is exceedingly plain in the context. Please begin back at the fifteenth verse. Listen, ‘ Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.’”” And then he goes on to say how they had just sent to him again, and then it is that he says, ‘“But my God shall fulfil every need of yours (that is, ““every need of” a generously giving church) according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” There is absolutely nothing here that a stingy Christian has a right to claim. We are plainly told that the promise is made to large givers, and to them alone. Of course the gift may not be large in itself, but large in comparison with: what a person has.

Listen to another familiar promise that sounds very much like this one that we have just noted, II Cor. 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Just look at the “all’s” and the “every’s” and the “abound’s.” Let me quote it again, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.’ Wonderful promise, isn’t it. But read it in its connection, begin back two verses, II Cor. 9:6, 7, “He which soweth sparingly [the context shows that Paul is speaking about the sowing of gifts, and sowing sparingly means giving sparingly, smally] shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver (the Greek word here translated “cheerful” is “hilaros,” from which we get our word “hilarious’), God loveth a hilarious giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you (that is, toward the hilarious giver); that ye (that is, that ye hilarious givers), always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.”

There is nothing here for the stingy Christian, only for the Christian who is a hilarious giver. Are you a hilarious giver? Do you love to find opportunities to give? When you see the collection basket coming, do you say to yourself, “1am so glad I have another opportunity to give?”’ Or do you say, “I wish they wouldn’t everlastingly take up collections?”? Are you of those who, when you see the collection basket coming, say, “Oh, why will they take up a collection so often?”’ And then do you begin to reason with yourself as to how much you ought to give, and first take out it may be a dollar, and look around and say, “Well, I guess this is my share. If everybody here gives a dollar they will have plenty; there are over two thousand people present, and if everyone gives a dollar there will be two thousand dollars.” And then do you hesitate and say, ‘‘ Well, they don’t need two thousand dollars.” And then you take out fifty cents and say, “Oh, I think that is all I ought to give. If everybody gives fifty cents there will be a thousand dollars.” And then you hesitate and say, “Well, I do not believe they need a thousand dollars.” And then you put the

a half-dollar back in your pocket and take out a quarter and say, “Well, that’s enough. If everybody gives a quarter they will have five hundred dollars; that certainly is enough.” And then you hesitate again and put back the quarter and take out a ten-cent piece, and say, “Oh, I think ten cents is my share. If everyone gives ten cents that is two hundred dollars, that certainly is enough.” But the collection basket is now getting nearer, and you put back the ten-cent piece and take out a nickel and say, “I think that is my share. If everybody gives a nickel they will have a hundred dollars. That certainly is enough.” But wait, the basket is nearer still, and you put back the nickel and take out a penny, and you pinch that until poor President Lincoln’s figure on the penny squeals. Come, now, honour bright, do you do that? Or do you throw in the whole pocketbook and say, “I wish I could give even more’? Oh, are you a hilarious giver? If you are not, you cannot be a mighty prayer.

Take one other passage of Scripture, that wonderful promise that we studied four days ago, I John 3:22, ““And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” What a wonderful promise that is. John here tells us plainly that whatsoever he asked of God he got. But why? Read the context, begin back at the sixteenth verse, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” I can tell you how, nohow. But let me read on, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” That is to say, let us not love in mere profession of love, but in reality, by actually doing. For example, it is a cold winter night, there are only a few out to prayer-meeting, but an enthusiastic brother enters and in a little while he gets up in the prayer-meeting and says, “Brethren, I am so glad to be here tonight. I do so enjoy the society of Christian people. I know that I have passed from death unto life, because I love the brethren. (1 John 3:14.) Oh, how I love the brethren, how glad I am to be here tonight. I’d rather be here than to go to the

theatre or the circus or any entertainment. I do not see

how anybody that calls himself a Christian can go to places like that. There is no place I enjoy as I enjoy the prayer-meeting; no fellowship that I love as I love the fellowship of Christians. I know I have passed from death unto life, because I love the brethren.” But immediately the meeting is over you go to this enthusiastic, glowing brother, and you say to him, “Brother Smith, I was so glad to hear your testimony tonight, it just warmed my heart. But I want to speak to you about a little matter. You know Sister Johnson, that she has been unfortunate and her husband died here a few months ago. He left her no insurance, and she is having a hard time to pay her rent and keep her family together. She lives in that little house of yours over on the other side of town, and she is afraid she cannot pay the rent this time. Can’t you let her off on the rent?’”’ And instantly this glowing Christian becomes cold, and he says, “Well, of course I sympathize with the poor sister, and I wish I could help her, but business is business, and if she cannot pay the rent I suppose she will have to get out.” How dwelleth the love of God in that man? I will tell you how, nohow.

He simply loves “in word” and “in tongue,” not “in deed and in truth.”

Or take another illustration. Another brother comes into a prayer-meeting where you are present, and he gets up with the same glowing testimony, tells how glad he is to be there, how he loves the brethren, how he loves the society of Christian people, how he knows that he has passed from death unto life, because he loves the brethren. And when the meeting is over you go to him and say, “Brother Brown, I so enjoyed your testimony tonight, it did me good, it warmed my heart. But, Brother Brown, you know Sister Jones, you know what a hard time she is having of it. You remember how her husband coming home from work a few weeks ago was run over by a train and killed, and how he had no insurance and no money laid up, and she has been unable to get any damages from the railroad. It is going to be a cold winter, and they have no coal over in Sister Jones’ house, and we are getting together a little money to stock the house with coal or wood, and to put in a barrel of flour, and potatoes, and other provisions, so that she can keep her family together and not separate, and not suffer.” And suddenly this brother also becomes cold and says, “Well, I am sorry for her, and I’d like to help her, but charity must begin at home. And I’ve got to pay my income tax, and you know how heavy it is. (It does not seem to occur to the brother that unless he had plenty of money he would not have a very heavy income tax.) And though I would like to help, I cannot.”

“How dwelleth the love of God in him?” Nohow. He loves merely “in word” and “in tongue,” and not “in deed and in truth.” But let me read on, “And hereby [that is, by loving not merely in word and in tongue, but by our actual giving, “in deed and in truth”| we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him [that is, before God]. For if our heart condemn us, [that is, condemn us in the matter of our stingy giving], God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not [that is, does not condemn us because of our stingy giving|, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask [that is, we whose hearts do not condemn us because of our stinginess, we who are giving generously as we ought, we who love “in deed and in truth’’|, whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” You may go right straight through your Bible and you will find that every great promise on God’s part to give us in answer to our prayer, is conditioned upon our generous giving to others who need our help.

Right here we discover the secret of why it 1s that individual believers, and the Church of Christ as a whole, today have so little power in prayer. It is because of our downright stinginess in our giving. Great men of prayer are all great givers, that is, great givers according to their ability. George Mueller, of Bristol, England, was, as far as we know, one of the very greatest men of prayer of the last generation. He obtained the English equivalent of more than seven million, two hundred thousand dollars by prayer. For about sixty years he carried on a most marvelous work in supporting and training the orphans of England, oftentimes having two thousand or more orphans under his roofs at one time to be fed three meals a day, and yet every penny that came for the support of the orphans, and for the support of the other work for which he felt responsible, came in answer to prayer. No appeal was ever made to anybody, no collections or offerings ever taken, and yet the money never failed. Sometimes it seemed up to almost the last moment as if it would fail, but it always came. He would ask God for a hundred pounds sterling, and it would come and he would pass it on. He would ask for sixty thousand pounds sterling, and it would come and he would pass it on. In all, as we have already stated, he asked for over seven million, two hundred thousand dollars, and it came and he passed it on.

And that was the reason why it kept coming, because he kept passing it on, none of it stuck to his fingers. And when he came to die at the advanced age of ninety-two or ninety-three years, he had just enough left to pay his funeral expenses. We ask and we get and we keep, and so God ceases to give. We stop our ears at the cry of the poor, the poor in our own land and the poor in other lands, the spiritually poor even more than the poor in purse, and so God stops His ears to our cry, just as He told us twenty-nine hundred years ago He would do.

The evangelical churches of America do not average two cents a week per member for foreign missions, and yet we wonder why God does not hear our prayers. Many a professedly Christian woman spends every year of her life more on the single article of kid gloves than she does upon foreign missions, and yet she wonders why God does not hear her prayers. I am not saying that women should not wear gloves, but I am saying that a Christian woman should certainly give more for the work of sending the Gospel to the perishing heathen than she does on a matter of personal adornment like that. Many a professing Christian man spends more every year of his life on the unnecessary, not to say filthy and unwholesome, tobacco, than he does upon sending the Gospel to the perishing in China, and India, and Africa, and elsewhere, and yet he wonders why God does not answer his prayers. There is many and many a man in our churches today who, if you ask him for thirty-six dollars and fifty cents a year for foreign missions, would almost faint away, and yet he spends more than ten cents a day on cigars, and ten cents a day would make thirty-six dollars and fifty cents ina year. And many of them spend many times ten cents a day on cigars or cigarettes, or tobacco in some form, and never dream of giving thirty-six dollars and fifty cents a year to foreign missions, and yet they wonder why God does not answer their prayers. There is no wonder about it, it is your niggardliness, your downright meanness in your giving.

A young lady came into my office once in Minneapolis. I was interested in the newsboys of Minneapolis, and so was she. I was vice-president of the Newsboys’ Home, and we needed something badly for that home, I have forgotten now what it was. This young woman was the daughter of a wealthy railway magnate, standing by my table in my office she rested her fingers upon the table and said to me, “Oh, Mr. Torrey, we must get that money for the newsboys. How shall we get it?” And as she said it one diamond alone that flashed on her finger would have met the need many times over.

A very enthusiastic missionary advocate at a great world missionary meeting at Rochester some years ago, stretched out her hands to the audience in a pathetic appeal and said, “Sisters, we must have money for foreign missions”; and as she said it more than seven thousand dollars worth of diamonds flashed on her fingers; and yet we wonder why God does not answer our prayers. Oh, there is no wonder at all about it; the explanation is simple. It is found in the Word of God, it is because of our stinginess, our meanness, the smallness of our giving. Does not God say it in His Word, and is He not thundering it in our ears this morning, “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard”?

VI. A Wronc TREATMENT OF HUSBAND oR WIFE

There is one more hindrance to prayer of which we must speak. We find it plainly stated in I Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.’ ‘That is plain enough, is it not? God here distinctly tells us that a wrong treatment of a wife by a husband (and vice versa, of course, a wrong treatment of a husband by a wife), hinders prayer; and it makes it impossible for God to hear the prayer of the husband or wife, as the case may be. Some of us are searching far and wide to discover what it is that hinders our prayer. We do not need to look so far away. Look into your home life. Husband, are you treating your wife as the Bible tells us a husband ought to treat his wife? Wives, are you treating your husbands as the Bible tells us wives ought to treat their husbands? If you are not, God will not hear your prayers. You may make all kinds of pretence of piety, you may be very faithful in attending religious services and co-operating in Christian work, but God’s eye is on your home life. The religion of our Lord Jesus Christ is a very homely religion, that is to say, it is a religion that enters right down into the practicalities of every-day home life. That is one reason why I rejoice in it and am glad that I am a Christian. Christianity magnifies the home. Our modern modes of living, even among believers, minifies the home, but God doesn’t.

How many a man there is in our churches today who, if you heard him talk in prayer-meeting, or in the missionary meeting, you would think he was a perfect saint of God; how soit and winning and earnest his words. And many a woman who hears him thinks, “How pleasant it must be to live with a husband like that.” But in his home he is quite different, he is cross, harsh, domineering, overbearing. He comes down to breakfast, and if by some mischance the beefsteak isn’t cooked just right, perhaps it is a little burnt, he flies into a towering passion and he says to his wife, “Why can’t we have a decent beefsteak in this house? I buy the best and you are always burning it. If I can’t get a good beefsteak at home I am going to the hotel,” and he rises from the table, hurries out of the room, takes his hat and starts for a restaurant; and his poor broken-hearted wife sits down and begins to sob. And that man is actually shortening the life of his wife, and yet he wonders why God does not answer his prayers. Why, man, there is no wonder about it; it is because you are a brute, and God nowhere promises to answer the prayers of brutes — but of men, real, hundred per cent, Christian men.

I heard some years ago of a husband who did that very thing. He came to the breakfast table, the beefsteak was burned, he arose from the table cross and complaining, and stormed over the burnt beefsteak and said to his wife, “Why can’t we have a decent beefsteak in this house? If we can’t I am going to the hotel.” He dashed out of the room, took his hat and started for the hotel or somewhere else. His wife, of course, sank down by the table, buried her face in her arms and began to cry and sob. They had a darling little boy, a sweet sympathetic boy, and he stole up beside his sobbing mother and his arms stole around her neck, and he cried with her and he sobbed out, “Ma, I’m awfully sorry we married pa, ain’t you?” And there is many a man today who so acts in his home, though he professes to be an earnest Christian, that he makes his children sorry that they “married pa,” and yet he wonders why his prayers are not answered.

But take another illustration on the other side. How many a professedly Christian woman today is sweet as a summer morn, as winsome and alluring as a June breeze when she is at the missionary society, or the sewing circle, or any other public gathering of the church; but how different she is at home, cross, peevish, pettish, nagging. Her husband comes home tired from work. As they are about to sit down to the evening meal his wife says to him, “John, did you mail that letter I gave you this morning?”’ He looks aghast, puts his hand in his pocket, and finds the letter there, and begins to apologize and says, “Wife, I am so sorry I forgot to mail it.” And then she storms, “Of course you forgot to mail it; you always forget to mail it; you never do what I ask you to do,” and thus she goes on and at last he, in anger and disgust, arises from the table, takes his hat and starts for the club, or the booze joint. And that woman wonders how such a good Christian woman as she could have a drunkard for her husband. I’ll tell you, woman, it is because you made him so. God forbid that I should justify a man in being a frequenter of places like that under any circumstances, but it is a simple matter of fact that many a man is a frequenter of joints because his professedly Christian wife made his home so like hell that he felt he could not stay there. And yet that woman wonders why her prayers are not answered.

Take another illustration. How many a woman there is who a few years or even a few months ago, when a certain young man was coming around at night, stood before the glass and arrayed herself down to the smallest detail with the utmost care because “Charlie” was coming tonight. If it had been anybody else but Charlie she would not have taken such care, but it was Charlie. But now the months have passed and they have been married, been married several months. If anyone, any other gentleman, 1s coming home to dinner but her husband, she is as careful as ever to make herself look attractive; but “no one is coming tonight but Charlie,’ and any old dress or collar or ribbon is good enough, for “it is only Charlie.” And yet she wonders why her prayers are not answered. Oh, men and women, if you and I are to expect God to answer our prayers we must take our Christianity into our home life, and we must be lovers always. I read a question some years ago in the Ladies’ Home Journal, the question was, “How long should the honeymoon last?’’ I have forgotten what the answer given by the paper was, but I can tell you. Forever. Every year of married life should be more loving and tender and thoughtful than the one that went before, and it must be if we are to have power in prayer.

Men and women, if we are to have power in prayer we must look very carefully into our home life. And there are other things in married life that hinder prayer; other things that one cannot speak of in public, and yet how much they need to be spoken of in the day in which you and I are living. How many hideous abominations are covered up under the sacred name of marriage. Oh, men and women, if you and I are to have power in prayer we must spread our whole married life out before the all-seeing and all-searching and all-holy eye of God, and say to Him, “Heavenly Father, if there is anything in my married life anywhere that is displeasing in Thy sight, show me what it is and I will put it away.” And then let us wait before God and let Him search our married life there in the white light of His Word, and the white light of the indwelling Spirit of God, and when He discloses any spot of any kind, as most likely He will, let us put it away. Then we shall have on open door of access to God, and our prayers will be no longer hindered but we will call to God and He will hear and give us what we seek from Him.