It is possible for people to pray in a kind of experimental manner. ‘I'm not sure that I believe, but if God is there I'm going to have a go at it. I'm going to ask something to a God who may or may not be there and I'll see what happens.’ I counsel you to avoid that spirit altogether. When you go to God, you go to Almighty God. He is not one to be trifled with or experimented with. Here I am, a sinful people. I need God. I need washing from sin. I need life. He is the great Landlord of the universe, God over all, who I have injured and wronged. Am I going to go experimenting with him? No, I'm going to go with awe and reverence and respect.
We have to go to God in prayer in a very simple and unflamboyant way. Words won't get us anywhere. I may perhaps be somebody who tries to be eloquent and swashbuckling with words. That is no good with God. When we go into a quiet place and we approach the Most High God, he sees right through us. He knows all about us. We are naked in the presence of God. There's no pretence with him. He knows my past, present and future. All my excuses which I cover up my sins with, need to be put away. I may have succeeded in justifying myself to others, but there's no hiding anything from God. If you can only feel that and be aware of that, you'll go into the presence of God with the right perspective – humble, simple, open, no nonsense, no excuses.
Another mistake people make is to make conditions with God. ‘I'm going to ask for this conversion, this new life, this forgiveness. And if I get it, Lord, I'll come to church every week and I'll try and do what I can. The only kind of prayer that is heard is a prayer which is made in this spirit: ‘Oh God, I am unworthy. I need to be forgiven. I need to be pardoned. I need to be born again, totally changed. I give up myself up entirely to you without reservation. I realize that if I am born again, I will not belong to myself anymore. I will belong to you.’ There is no such thing as a true prayer from someone who is still living for himself. Prayer is only real when we yield to him. We give ourselves totally to him.
Before you pray for anything else, you must pray for pardon, you must pray for clear understanding, and you must pray for new life. I agree I have never truly prayed up till now. I have never truly been heard by God. I want to pray sincerely, genuinely. What must I pray for first? Forgiveness of sins, light and understanding, understanding the Gospel, understanding the way of salvation, and life so that I'm a different person. Those are the things at the top of the list. I must pray for those first; I must ask for those; I must seek for those; I must knock for those before anything else. If I put anything else first, I'm not praying as I should. I'm asking for incidentals before I've had the great operation, which is desperate for me.
From time to time there are people who say, dear friends, they say this, I am seeking the Lord, I am trying to repent, but so far I have no light. Sometimes it's because our repentance is not wholesome, it's not genuine, it's not real. I am asking for forgiveness, but I know perfectly well I'm going to cling on to certain ambitions or sins. Sometimes the reason why God isn't hearing me is because I may be genuinely repenting, but I'm not wholly letting go of this world. I still want to be my own master. I'm not going to give my life wholly to the Lord. Sometimes it's because I can't sufficiently trust him. It's possible for me to believe that God can save everybody else, but when it comes to me, somehow I cannot trust him. Sometimes that is why there is a delay. But sometimes it's as simple as this. I may be repenting, but I'm not really praying to the Lord personally. You have closed your eyes and you have greatly desired that you would be forgiven and that you would be born again, but there is one simple thing which you are doing wrong. You have never really asked the Saviour. Speak to the Lord Jesus Christ by name. Ask him to help you and bless you and forgive you and cause you to be born again. Perhaps for the first time in your life have a real conversation with your Friend in heaven. Don't close your eyes and merely desire it or will it. Ask him. Ask, seek, knock, go to him. Go to him personally. Do it urgently and do it sincerely and wholeheartedly and you will join the ranks of that great host, which no man can number, who know that the Lord does hear and answer their prayers.