Prayer - Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks

• We Speak to God in Prayer - Prayer is the remarkable privilege that the child of God has for communicating with God. In creating mankind, God had in view the idea of fellowship. This was not due to anything that God was lacking or needed. In fact, from eternity past the Persons of the Godhead enjoy perfect communion among Themselves. But for man, there can be no greater benefit. However, the unique and personal relationship that they had with their Maker was quickly aborted by man’s fall into sin, resulting in both spiritual and eternal death for man, and wreaking havoc upon God’s perfect universe. However, for one who has become born from above, that fellowship with God has been re-established by the work of the Lord Jesus in salvation. Once again, man became qualified to enjoy fellowship with His Creator.

Psa 5:3 “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”

Psa 141:2 “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

• God Speaks to Us through the Bible - One also must note that prayer is a response to what God says to us in His Word, the Bible. Even though God did speak directly to Abraham, Moses, John and others, since the Bible was completed God has only been speaking to man through the Bible, God’s holy and infallible Word. It behooves us to mention that not only is God speaking to each member of the human race, but God’s Word is examining each of us with the utmost scrutiny. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Judge of all the earth, makes ominous declaration in John 12.

2 Pet 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Heb 1:1-2 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.”

Heb 4:12-13 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

Mat 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

John 12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

• God Looks on the Heart - The Bible affirms in 1 Sam 16 that God looks on the heart and not on mere appearance. When we pray we must come to God as honestly as possible. We can fool others and even ourselves, but we can never fool God. It is no wonder that a true believer will want to pattern his prayers after Psa 19:14. A believer’s prayers should be heartfelt communication with the Savior – not merely mouthing of printed words or reciting memorized phrases. Could it be that our hearts would overflow with gratitude and praise to our Heavenly Father.

1 Sam 16:7b “... for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Ecc 5:2 “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”

Psa 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”

Psa 69:13 “But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.”

1 Sam 1:13-15 "Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.14And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.15And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD."

• Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks - By birth and nature we have a sinful and wicked heart. God has much to say about a person who merely pays “lip service” to God and does not seek Him with all his “heart, soul, mind, and strength.” We must never forget that one can only do this when one has become saved – or “born from above”, by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to redeem His people from eternal Hell.

Jer 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

Mark 7:6 “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Mat 12:34b “... for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Deu 30:6 “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

Rom 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”