TEXT: I Corinthians 14:15

SUBJECT: Henry on Prayer #1: Adoration

Tonight, God willing, we’ll begin a new Puritan study called A Method of Prayer. It’s a short book, written in 1710, by Matthew Henry. Henry was an English pastor who’s best known today for his great Bible commentary. If you’ve read his books at all, you know a man of great holiness wrote them. Henry’s scholarship is dated, of course, but his devotion to the Lord is as warm and fresh as ever.

In writing his book, Henry’s goal is not to say everything there is to say about prayer or give us the perfect form of prayer, but to help people who want to improve their prayer lives.

Do you want to pray better? If you do, with the Lord’s blessing, Matthew Henry can help you.

Henry says good prayers are made up of five parts: (1) Adoration, (2) Confession, (3) Petitions, (4) Thanksgiving, and (5) Intercession.

Before we go on, let’s be clear on his terms: What does adoration mean? It means something like praise or telling the Lord how great and good He is. What do we confess? We confess our sins to the Lord in prayer. What’s a petition? It’s asking God for something—food or health or the forgiveness of sin or help in school, and so on. Thanksgiving is an easy one—saying thank you to the Lord for all He’s done for us. And Interecession? That means praying for others.

You might quibble on a word or two here—or change the order a bit, but these are the big things in prayer. If you’re going to pray well, you’ve got to do them all. If you feel guilty, of course, you’ll confess more than you give thanks. Or, if a friend is gravely ill, you’ll intercede more than offer petitions for yourself, and so on. But, over the long haul, these are the things we ought to be doing in prayer, more or less evenly.

The first part of prayer is adoration or praising God. But before we get to the words—Henry says—let’s be sure our hearts are right,

Anything worth doing takes "prep time". The best-trained athlete has to stretch and to psyche himself up to play at his best. Good teachers always start their classes before the students arrive. Surgeons scrub up before they operate.

The same is true of prayer. Some prayers have to be spontaneous. But most of the time, we have to warm up to it. We have to remember Who we’re talking to and what we have to say, and how to feel in His Presence.

If you went for a job interview, would you, maybe, think about what you’re going to say when you got there? Or how you were going to say it? Or what your attitude should be? Most people would. A job interview is too important to enter without some prep time. And so is prayer! If you prepared better, you’d pray better!

Now that your heart is humbled and focused on the Lord, how do you begin adoring Him? Henry has a lot to say on this; here’s some of it.

God is known by many names in the Bible and all of them are full of meaning. Unlike you and me, God chose His own name in order to distinguish Himself from other gods—and all other things too.

On one hand, we all do this. Who begins to pray without first say, "Heavenly Father" or "Lord" or some other Name? But on the other hand, we often fail here too. For, when invoking that Name, are you thinking about what it stands for? The uniqueness of God, His majesty and grace and justice and mercy and all the rest?

If you want to adore the Lord in your prayers, start with His Name—and remember what it means. That’s Number One.

The quote, I know, is long, but it summarizes almost four pages of small print in double column. You get the idea, don’t you? Nothing pleases the Lord more than to be told what He is! No praise can do justice to His Divine nature, yet He wants our praise. And, not only is it good for Him, but it’s good for us to meditate on the Being and the character of our God.

Adore the Lord by rehearsing His attributes. That’s the Second Rule.

The Lord knows what He has done and what He’s doing. But He likes to hear it from you. The achievements of men can go to their heads; talking about them too much is probably bad for them. But God, of course, cannot be tempted to pride or vanity. Thus, you can recall His works of creation and providence all day long; you can praise their wisdom and power and justice and grace. And your words will never go to His head. He’ll be pleased to hear them. It reminds Him of heaven, where the saints never get tired of saying,

If you want to worship the Lord, tell Him He’s Creator and Master of all things. That’s the Third Rule.

This is an inference from the previous rule. If God is the Sustainer of all things, then He sustains you Although it’s implied in the "all things", the Lord wants you to make it personal. His is not an abstract Providence, a fuzzy rule over this and that. No, it’s a Rule of all thing, including your next heartbeat. Henry says,

That’s the general rule; he follows it up with some particulars. Some things that maybe you haven’t thought of lately, but you’d do well to remember and recall in your prayers,

On one level, you know you depend on God entirely. But when did you last feel your dependence on Him? When did it occur to you that your heart only beats at His will? And that you could not drive safely without His guidance? Or that you’d have no mind unless He gave it to you—and keeps it too?

You need to feel your dependence on the Lord. And tell Him about it the next time you pray. Back in the 19^th Century, there was a German theologian named Schleiermacher. On almost every point, he was a heretic. But one thing he got right. He said,

We are not adoring the Lord unless we’re also feeling our dependence on Him. And telling Him,

Confess your dependence on the Lord. That’s Rule Number Four.

If God is really great and glorious, then it’s a high honor to have His attention. Tell Him that in prayer. And feel it. Who are we to speak to such a God? The mayor of Fremont—a podunk town if there ever was one—wouldn’t give you five minutes of his time. But God, the eternal and almighty Ruler of Heaven and Earth, is happy to hear from you at any time. And will give you all the time you want.

Tell the Lord how honored you are to have His attention. That’s the Fifth Rule for adoring Him.

Nothing offends God more than neglecting His Son. When we come to Him without Christ we puff up ourselves, as though we’re worthy to come to Him on our own merits. We also dishonor Him by slighting His holiness, as though He is low enough to enjoy our company without Christ.

But by praying "in the Name of Christ", we adore God’s love and wisdom and justice. And, of course, His Son, whom we honor by naming Him as the Only Mediator between God and men.

That’s it, Matthew Henry on Adoring God in prayer. I know every believer adores the Lord, but have we become so worried or busy that we forget to tell Him how we feel? Husbands are often this way with their wives. They love their wives, to be sure, but between job and bills and keeping up the house, not to mention watching TV or playing on the computer, they haven’t told their wives lately how much they love them.

They ought to do this. And if we owe this tribute to our wives, how much more do we owe to God? You can ask the Lord for everything in the world, you can spend hours praying for needy friends, you can confess your sins till you can’t think of anything else to confess, but in all your prayers—public or private or in the family, remember to adore the Lord who made you and redeemed you in Jesus Christ.

Adoration. That’s where prayer begins. And where it grows. And, where it ends too. May God make us adore Him more and more till the perfect day. For Christ’s sake. Amen.