When the Call to Pray Becomes More Than Just a Cliché — Brian Long

Jeremiah's Call to Pray in a Critical Hour

Jeremiah, the thirty -third chapter, the message that God has simply laid on my heart for this morning, I've entitled it, When the Call to Pray Becomes More Than Just a Cliché. When the Call to Pray Becomes More Than Just a Cliché.

Now what is a cliché? Webster's Dictionary defines a cliché as an expression or idea that has become trite. It's something that you just say, but you don't really mean. Something that has kind of become worn out by constant use.

It's no longer fresh. It's lost its meaning. When the Call to Pray Becomes More Than Just a Cliché. Jeremiah chapter thirty-three, we're just going to read three verses, the first three verses. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed it to establish it, the Lord is his name.

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Call unto me, and I will answer thee, God says, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

All of us have heard that little phrase, let's pray. Or I'm going to be praying for you. That phrase can be the ultimate answer to every problem that we're facing. It can be the very turning point in our lives.

Let us pray. If we mean what we say. If we really mean that we're going to call out and draw near to God. God promises, if you draw near to me, I will draw near to you. But that little phrase, let's pray, can also become nothing more than a cliché.

Prayer as a Lifeline Rather Than a Cliché

It can become something that we just say. All of us probably have experienced this, when perhaps you're going through a trial of some kind, and someone comes up to you and says, I'll be praying for you, or you're in my thoughts and prayers.

And they may mean well, but you know, they didn't really mean what they just said. They're not really going to pray for me. Often times it's just used as an expression, as a cliché. On the other hand, somebody can say to you, I'm going to be praying for you.

And somehow you know they meant that. They meant that from their heart. They meant when they said, I'm going to be praying for you, they're going to go shut themselves in with God and really pray for you.

And you know that something's going to happen when that person prays. So, let's pray, can just become an empty cliché. Or it can become the most important, critical, most effective thing you and I could ever do.

Do you look at prayer as something that's just sort of a last resort type of thing, as just something we do, something you do before a meal, something you do when you don't know what else to do? Or do you look at prayer as your very lifeline, as the very thing that connects you to God?

Do you look at prayer as the very breath in your body, as the very blood that flows through your veins? In that, without prayer, without communion with God, without getting in touch with God, I'm going to die.

That's when we look at prayer rightly. Not as some empty cliché, but as our very lifeline to God. Now, as you and I can see in verse 1 of Jeremiah chapter 33 here, notice that Jeremiah was shut up in prison.

He was being held in a prison, verse 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord. What I want you to see is that it was a very critical hour in Jeremiah's day, and in his life.

Jeremiah's Message of Repentance and Coming Judgment

Jeremiah was a prophet called by God, and he came with a message of repentance, a message of coming judgment, and no one wanted to hear what Jeremiah said, what he had to preach. Most people don't want to hear from a prophet.

They would rather hear a message that tickles their ears, and makes them feel good about themselves, and leaves with a good feeling. But that's not the message that Jeremiah the prophet had. He had a message of repentance.

It was a message for the people of God to turn from sin, and to get right with God. It was a message of coming judgment, because they wouldn't get right with God. It was a very desperate and critical hour.

Judgment was coming. Jeremiah had already heard from the Lord. He knew that war was just on the horizon. He knew that it would be very soon that Israel and Judah would come under the judgment of God, that Jerusalem would be leveled, the whole city would be destroyed.

And he has this message to proclaim to the people, turn to God, repent, and God will have mercy upon you. But no one wants to hear what he has to say. He is rejected everywhere he goes, and finally, they throw him in prison.

So here he is in a dark prison, and it's a critical hour. Nobody wants to hear what he has to say. He's shut up in this prison. What does Jeremiah need? I'll tell you what he doesn't need. He doesn't need some fancy little religious cliché.

Folks, you and I both know, when you're hurting, when you're in trouble, when you're in a prison of some sort, when you're going through sorrow and suffering, when you're at a very critical, desperate hour, the last thing you need is some fancy little cliché.

It's not a cliché that's going to get you through. What you need is a word from the living God. I think somebody perhaps came here this morning with that in their heart. God, You must speak to me. I'm at a time in my life, I don't need a canned sermon.

I don't need some ideas of man, and I sure don't need some cliché. I need a word from You. I need You to speak to me, God. Jeremiah needed a word from the Lord. He's in prison. It's a desperate hour. A time of deep distress.

He needed a word from the Lord, and a word from the Lord he did receive. While in prison, and what was that word to Jeremiah? God gave him one word. Not a cliché, but a command. He said to Jeremiah in verse 3, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

Desperation as a Call to Prayer

Folks, let's look at this. Can I tell you when the call to pray becomes more than just a cliché? It's when you're in a time of desperation. When all the fluff is gone, and you've finally gotten hit rock bottom, and you're getting real with God.

In a moment of desperation, the call to pray becomes more than just something we say. More than just some cheap little cliché. Thus saith the Lord, Jeremiah, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

God had one word for Jeremiah. Pray. Pray, Jeremiah. Now, if you were in prison, what would you do with that word? I put myself in that place, and I thought if I was in prison, I think I would be more wanting God to say, here's how you get out of here.

Or let me give you some instructions. Let me tell you how long you'll be in here. Let me tell you what's going to happen. Let me give you the big picture. But God hardly ever does that. He gave him one word.

One call, one command. Jeremiah, right now in prison. Right now when you don't know what to do. Right now in this desperate hour. When maybe you're even questioning why you're in this place. Lord, why did you even allow me to be put in this prison?

Why am I in this mess? I'm trying to serve you. What do you have to say to me when no one wants to hear what you give me to preach? When no one wants to repent? When judgment is on the horizon? God says, I have one message.

Pray. One message, pray. You may be in a prison this morning. Not a physical prison, obviously, but some kind of prison that it seems that all hope is gone. You know no way out. What's God's message to you?

Pray. When you're hurting. When you're suffering. Times of sorrow. What's His message to you? Pray. What about when your children have gone astray? And they're not serving the Lord. When your children are not yet saved.

What is God's message to you? Pray. When people all around us, sinners all around us are dying and falling into an everlasting hell. What is God's message to us? Pray. Pray for them. What is God's message when Jesus is coming?

His return is so very soon. What is His message? Pray. Call upon Me. One word. There's not often that I can say, thus saith the Lord, perhaps. But this morning I can tell you, thus saith the Lord. Call upon Me, and I will answer thee.

God Almighty has a word specifically for you and I this morning. Call unto Me, and I will answer thee. It is a promise. It is a command. Pray. One message. Pray. And it's important for us to understand that this little word, call, in verse 3, when He says, call unto Me, it's the Hebrew word, karah.

And it means to call out with a loud voice, or to cry out to God. Now, is that really important? I mean, after all, Brother Brian, can't we just pray from our heart, and can't we just pray silently? Well, sure there's a time to pray silently, and sure God hears those prayers, but this is not the kind of prayer that He's talking about here.

Crying Out to God With the Voice

The kind of prayer that God is talking about here is prayer that comes from the heart, yes, but it comes also from the voice. Prayer that calls out with a loud voice. You see, much of our praying today can become no more than just mental prayers.

Well, I'm thinking about prayer, so therefore I've prayed today. Uh-uh. I've prayed, but I'm just praying under my breath silently. This kind of prayer that God is talking about is prayer that comes out loud.

It's praying out loud. When last did you cry out loud to God? In desperation. God, help me. God, come. Save our generation. Open the blind eyes. Unlock the deaf ears. God, hear my cry. I am so convinced and so persuaded that there are things that you and I will face in life where we will not experience the breakthrough.

We will not experience the answer until we cry out to God from our hearts, yes, but also from our voice. Scripture after Scripture. I want to read you some Scriptures that I just copied down where this Hebrew word, qara, is used.

This word that means call out or cry out with a loud voice. Listen to David in the Psalms. Psalm 3, verse 4, he said, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Not I cried unto the Lord silently.

I cried to the Lord with my voice, and He heard me. Psalm 27, verse 7, Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. Psalm 61, verse 2, From the end of the earth, that is, when I am at the end of my rope, when I am at my wit's end, from the end of the earth, will I cry out loud unto Thee when my heart is overwhelmed.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 66, verse 17, I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue. Psalm 69, verse 3, I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

Why was his throat dried? Because he's praying fervently out loud. Is it that important that we pray out loud? It is that important when God says, call unto me, and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.

He's saying, call unto me out loud. Cry out to me. He says in Psalm 119, verse 145, I cried with my whole heart. Hear me, O Lord. Isaiah 58, 1, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice. Jonah said in Jonah 2, when he was in the belly of the well, he said, I cried, I called unto the Lord by reason of mine infliction.

Unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and heardest my voice. I can tell you, brothers and sisters, that there have been times in my own life when I was facing something that I could not get the victory.

There was no breakthrough. There was no answer. And it was not until I went out in the country where nobody could hear me. Maybe you can shut yourself up in a vehicle. Maybe you can, who knows, go somewhere into an empty house where no one can hear me and you can let it loose.

You can cry out. I remember at times, out on the ranch, crying out upon a mountain, O God, I hunger for You. God, I need You to come at this moment. Did you know God will never, ever close His ears to such a desperate prayer?

He will not turn away the broken and the contrite heart. And I simply say to you, when's the last time, if you're facing something, if you're at a desperate hour, when's the last time you let it go? You poured out your heart like water before the Lord, and you called upon the Lord out loud with your voice.

You called unto Him. God has given us a promise here. Verse 3 of chapter 33. Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which you do not know. There's a time to cry out loud.

When does prayer, the call to pray, become more than a cliche? When you're in a moment of desperation. The problem is most of us probably are too dignified to pray like that. You don't have to just let it go, Brother Brian.

You don't have to pray out loud. You don't have to yell. Why? Are we too dignified? You know, I've seen videos of prayer meetings in China. Videos of prayer meetings in Uganda. And these men and women are crying out to God with their voice out loud in desperation, because they know they need God.

And often times God has to break us. He has to bring us to a place of desperation to get us to a place of rock bottom where we'll really learn how to pray. You want to learn how to pray? Get desperate for God.

Call upon Him with your whole heart. Cry out to Him with your voice. That's when prayer becomes more than just a cliche. More than something that we talk about in a trite manner. But it's also when prayer is prayed from the heart.

Praying From the Heart

When prayer becomes more than a cliche, when we pray prayer from the heart. I will forever be grateful to my mom for this one thing, for sure. Even as a young boy, she taught me to pray, and in teaching me to pray, she would say, when you pray, pray from your heart.

When you pray, be sure you pray from the heart. That sounds simple, but that's stuck in my mind and heart. It's useless to pray prayers that don't come from the heart. Praying prayers that don't come from your heart go no higher than your head.

Prayer that comes from the heart touches the heart of God. You see, brothers and sisters, it's not a matter of saying, well, I wish I had the right words, or I wish I could, you know, I have a problem putting words together.

Forget all of that. Come to God as a little child. Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. That's what it means to call unto Him. He's not impressed with words. He's impressed with a broken heart, a heart that hungers for Him, a heart that cries out to Him.

Jeremiah was such a man who prayed from the heart. Turn to... Well, let's look at a few scriptures. Turn to the left, to chapter 29, and first let's see what God says about this, praying from the heart.

He says in Jeremiah 29, beginning in verse 11, He says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me.

There's that same word, karah. Then shall you call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you, and ye shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with what? All your heart.

All your heart. God's saying, when you cry, when you call upon Me, when you pray, pray from your heart. Seek Me with all of your heart. And Jeremiah did so. Turn to the right, to the book of Lamentations.

Lamentations in chapter 3. This is after judgment finally came to Jerusalem. The city was destroyed. God's people were taken into Babylonian captivity. And look at what Jeremiah says. He says in chapter 3, look at verse 48.

He says, Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of My people. Tears have often been called liquid prayers. God sees your tears. Verse 49, Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not without any intermission till the Lord look down and behold from heaven.

Mine eye affecteth Mine heart because of all the daughters of My city. You know why Jeremiah could pray from his heart? Because his eyes affected his heart. What he saw with his eyes affected his heart.

When last have our eyes affected our heart? When last have you seen someone without Christ? Lost. They're going to perish without Christ. When last have you seen them and your eyes affected your heart?

If it doesn't affect our heart, brothers and sisters, the first thing we need to pray is God, give me your eyes to see others. Give me your eyes to see. Give me your heart, Lord. Help me to see what You see.

Jeremiah's eyes affected his heart. That's why he was moved to pray from his heart. Look in chapter 2. He says in verse 11 of Lamentations 2, Mine eyes do fail with tears. My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of My people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

Jeremiah said, when I see what's going on around me, and the destruction of all the daughters of this city, it makes me weep. And what I see affects my heart. Now, how did he pray? Look at chapter 2, verse 18.

He says, Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no rest. Let not the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night.

In the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street.

Jeremiah was pouring out his heart in prayer. Praying from his heart. Pouring out his heart like water before the face of the Lord because his eyes affected his heart. What he saw, his observation, moved him to intercession.

So God, give us your eyes to see what you see. God knows when we're praying empty little religious clichés and they're no more coming from the heart. God knows when we're praying empty clichés and our mind is just wandering around.

And He also takes note of when we're praying from the heart. And we're praying prayers. We really mean what we say. We're crying out. We're pouring out our heart like water before the Lord. And we're praying hot, fervent, faith-filled prayer.

And that's the prayer that moves the heart of God. The prayer that comes from the heart. But to come from the heart, it's prayer. How do we pray prayers? What moves us to that place of praying in faith?

Making God's Promises Personal

Taking God at His Word. Folks, we have to make personal what God is saying. Sometimes the reason that our prayers are dry and cold and our faith is weak is because we really don't believe this book that His promises are for us.

Let me ask you, my brother and sister, when you read Jeremiah 33, 3, and you read, Thus saith the Lord, Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.

That is a glorious promise, but have you made that promise personal? Have you read that and said, that's for me? Or do you say, well, no, that's for Jeremiah. God was talking to Jeremiah, therefore, it doesn't apply to me.

Folks, that's not the truth. God was talking to Jeremiah, but why? Because Jeremiah belonged to God. Jeremiah was a child of God. And if you were a child of God, if you were saved, then you were as much a child of God as Jeremiah was a child of God.

And God's promise to Jeremiah in this book is the same promise for you. That if you call upon the Lord, He will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know. If you believe that promise and you make that promise personal, we will pray in a whole different way.

A whole other way, knowing, God, you have promised me. I have a promise from you. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20 that all the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen for the believer. Yes and amen.

That means every promise in the book that is if I am in Christ, every promise in the book is for me. Every promise is yes and it is amen. Amen means so be it. So when God says call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things that you do not know, He's talking to me.

Have you made His Word personal? Have you taken it personal to say that is for me? You're hearing a promise. You're hearing a thus saith the Lord promise this morning. Grab it with both hands. Grab it by faith and say that is for me.

You see, all prayer is based upon a relationship. A relationship between God the Father and you and I His child. And the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8, if God so freely, if He so willingly gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, will He not also freely give us all things?

In other words, when it came to giving His only begotten Son, to die on a cross for my sins, to die in my place, and God didn't hesitate, but gave His only Son to be sacrificed for me. If He did that, how dare could I ever accuse Him of not caring about me now?

How dare could I ever accuse Him of not being willing to hear my cry, my prayer? He gave His Son for me. How much more will He hear my prayer? You see, Linda preached it really in the children's message.

If you and I, who are imperfect fathers, will see our children in trouble and they cry, we open our arms and say, come run to me, run to daddy. And we lift them up and we embrace them. If you and I will do that for our children, how much more will your heavenly Father embrace you as His child?

When you call out to Him, in a time of desperation, He says, I will answer thee. I will show thee great and mighty things which you do not know. Draw near to God, He will draw near to you. We have not received a spirit of fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby we can cry, Abba, Father, Papa, Daddy, help me, Lord!

And God will embrace His child. Prayer is based upon a relationship of father to His child. And therefore I can come to Him boldly. I can come to Him with confidence. Not because of who I am in and of myself, I'm nothing without Christ, but because I've been adopted into His family.

I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ, therefore we can come boldly to His throne of grace in our time of need. And call upon Him. Do you believe that? Not only must His promises be made personal, but they must be believed.

Believing God's Promises in Faith

When God says, call upon Me and I will answer you, He's calling you to prayer. We must believe. We must believe His promise. Believe His Word. I remember years ago, I heard a testimony of a pastor that really touched my heart.

This man was preaching. He was pastoring a church. And he became very ill. And he was eventually diagnosed with a certain disease. And his body was failing him. And he got to the point he could not do the work of the ministry.

So the church asked him to leave. So they could call another pastor. He was heartbroke. And he left. He had nowhere to preach. He didn't know how he was going to support his family. And I'll never forget his words.

He said, suddenly, at that desperate hour, I needed a God who was bigger than the one I had preached from the pulpit. You see, he was preaching clichés. He was preaching things that he read, but he didn't really believe.

He read them, but he didn't really mean them. He said them, but he didn't really mean them. But at that moment of desperation, he said, I came to a place of discovering who the real God of the Bible, the real Jesus is.

And his promises came alive. I found the God who was bigger than the one that I was proclaiming. And that's when he met with me. Folks, have you taken his word and made it personal? Secondly, have you believed his promise?

That his promise is for you? Because if you call unto the Lord without faith, then we have no right to expect to be answered. We must believe his promise, come before God in faith. Turn to James chapter 1 and look at this verse with me.

James chapter 1. And verse 6. James chapter 1 verse 6 says,. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. If he asks and does not believe, he's a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. We cannot come to God in prayer without faith.

According to your faith be it unto you. It's taking the promise and believing this promise is for me. Taking God at His word. Years and years ago, it was the custom in certain villages at Christmas time for the poor to take a bowl.

The man of the house would take a bowl and he would go to a rich man's house at Christmas time, knock on the door, and the rule was that the rich man would fill the bowl of the poor man. And so all the poor people would go with their bowl, just one bowl, and they would go to the rich, knock on the door, and the rich would fill the bowl to the top.

Now, there was some poor men that had faith in the generosity of the rich men and they would bring a big bowl. And the rich men would fill the big bowl all the way to the top. There were other poor men who didn't believe really in the generosity of the rich men and so they just brought a little small bowl.

And they also got their bowl filled to the top but in proportion of the bowl. Each one received a full bowl but according to the size of the bowl that they brought. Let me ask you, when you and I come to God in prayer, do we bring big bowl faith or little bowl faith?

Do we come expecting God for great and mighty things that we do not know? That's what He says here. Great expectations because we know He's a great God. Or do we come with a little bitty faith that thinks, well, God, could you just spare just a little bit?

Folks, God is not miserly. He's generous. He's generous. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He loves you with an everlasting love. And by faith, we can come to Him with a big bowl. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it, God says.

You know how many times on Sunday morning, I come to this pulpit before Sunday morning, early Sunday morning, thinking, God, I am so inadequate. I have nothing to say unless You fill my mouth. And so many times I've heard the Lord say, open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

And He has never, I cried out this to Him yesterday, God, You have never failed me one time. If I've ever failed, it was because of me. Never Him. God is faithful to His promises. Will you come to Him believing that this promise is for you?

You say, but I'm in a prison. Jeremiah was in a prison. I'm in a dark time. Jeremiah was in a dark time. It's a desperate hour. Jeremiah was living in a desperate hour. And what did God say? One word.

This is the most important, the most critical thing you can do right now, most effective thing, Jeremiah. Not ten things, one thing. Pray. Pray. Pray. Call unto Me. I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which you do not know.

God's Power in Human Impossibilities

Can I encourage you, brothers and sisters, as we close, that if you're facing a situation that absolutely looks to be hopeless, that appears to be humanly impossible, then you're the greatest candidate here for the grace and power of Almighty God.

Because that's the greatest opportunity for God to demonstrate His power and greatest glory when you're facing something that is humanly impossible. God does His greatest miracles in the face of human impossibilities.

It was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. She's 99 years old, yet God made it happen. It was impossible for Moses to cross the Red Sea. They would drown, yet God parted it and made it happen.

It was impossible to feed 5 ,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Jesus made it happen. He performs the miraculous in the face of human impossibilities. According to your faith, be it unto you. That's the question.

Are you desperate for God? If you're not desperate for God, He's probably going to have to bring you to a place of desperation. Are you desperate for God? Have you made His promise personal? Read His Word in such a way, that's for me.

I remember being a young Christian and having this verse. God spoke it to my heart. And I went to my pastor and I said, he was a young guy out of seminary, and he said, well, actually, Brian, I hate to burst your bubble, but that's referring to Israel.

I said, no, it may be, but it's for me. God spoke it to me, and I would not let go of that. That's the way we need to read the Word of God. Yes, it was for Israel, but are you in Christ? Then you've been grafted in.

And that promise for them is for you. All the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen. So hang on to it. Believe it. Make it personal. And believe it. Now, here's how I want to close. I believe God is wanting us to close this way.

Coming Boldly to the Throne of Grace

I've prayed about this this morning. God says in Hebrews chapter 4, His Word says, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. Boldly to His throne of grace, where we may find grace and mercy in our time of need.

Are you in a time of need this morning? If you are in a time of need this morning, you don't need empty counsel. You don't need cliches. You need a word from the living God, and that word is so clear this morning.

Call unto Him. With a desperate heart full of faith, and He says, I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you do not know. There's so many things God wants to show us, but we're not in a position to be able to hear them yet.

If you come before Him humbly and desperate, with faith, you are in a position to hear Him. So my invitation, my appeal to you, is whatever you're facing, will you take God's Word to heart right now? Folks, it does no good if we hear a message and we say, good sermon, goodbye.

It's hearing the Word of God and saying, okay, now what are you saying, Lord? What are you saying to me? Very clear this morning, call unto Me. Call unto Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you do not know.