Hello and welcome. Please allow me to ask a question. Are you discouraged about prayer; that is, prayer for salvation? The Bible instructs us to go to God beseeching Him for mercy. Have you done this? Some people think that they have; and they have, to some degree. That is, they have gone to God in prayer and they have asked Him for mercy.
Actually, I have a friend who knew that he was not saved. Many times he would call me and discuss his problems regarding prayer, especially concerning begging God for salvation. He felt that his heart was not in it and it was not long before he grew tired of asking God for mercy. I wonder how common a problem this is.
One of the reasons why someone might get discouraged about prayer and beseeching the Lord for salvation is that some people may have a completely wrong idea when it comes to crying out to God for mercy. They may not understand what the Bible intends by this.
Why is it that God permits us this great privilege of approaching Him in prayer and asking Him, crying, and beseeching that He might save us? Why is it that God gives us this great privilege?
I hope that no one thinks that this is a formula of some kind to become saved. Many churches today, if not all, have developed a formula for salvation. Sometimes their formula differs from one to another; but still, if you go into any church, they will tell you how you can get saved or greatly imply it, “Here is what you have to do.”
In our day especially, we know that this involves accepting Christ and taking Him to yourself as Saviour, which is an impossibility. No one can bring salvation to themselves. There is no formula. The Bible will not allow it. It is not possible for man to take steps one, two and three, and then have assurance of salvation.
No, actually any steps that are taken—any formula which outlines work toward salvation—is indicative that a person has not become saved, because no work can justify us, neither can crying for mercy; beseeching God for mercy cannot get us saved.
There is no way that anyone can bring salvation to themselves. This is why the Ninevites were used of God as an example. Yes, they cried mightily to God for mercy. But they also said, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger?”; if God will save us, in other words.
You see, they knew that they could cry to God because He is a merciful God and He does hear the prayer of some, according to His own purposes. Those whom He will save, He will have mercy on. But they also knew that it could be that God would not have mercy, that He would not save them. Therefore, they cried, “Who can tell if God will turn?”
It would help us to understand that God permits us sinners—and we are all in the same boat—to cry to Him for mercy, because crying for mercy reinforces the truth that, of ourselves, we can do nothing to get ourselves saved.
Therefore, we go to God as a beggar, hopefully broken and contrite and weighed down by our sin and the penalty of death for our sin. We go to the Lord, as He permits us to approach Him in this manner, and we say, “O Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. There is nothing that I have ever done or can do that should cause You to have mercy. Only for Christ’s sake and His great mercy do I even ask, because I know that it is completely and entirely 100% in Your hands if I become saved or not. But could You, O Lord, have mercy on me? May it be possible that I might be one of Your elect.”
Our situation can be likened to a prisoner on death row. Why would a prisoner be on death row? Well, because he is guilty, and we are guilty. We have committed the crime. We have transgressed God’s Law. This is not a mistake; we are not accidentally there on death row. We have truly broken the Law of God and we deserve to die. Justice would be served, actually, if we did die.
So we cannot go to God on any kind of a basis believing that He should save us for anything that we might have done. No, He will not listen to that; but we can go to Him for what Christ has done. Just as a prisoner might write a note to a governor requesting pardon, so, too, the Lord allows us to approach Him for pardon for Jesus’ sake.
What kind of a note would a prisoner write? Would he write a note to the governor demanding that he be pardoned, “You must set me free so that I will not be electrocuted or hung until dead; you must set me free!”
No, no prisoner would be so stupid as to write such a note as this to a governor, demanding his release. No, a prisoner writes the most respectful of letters and is very appreciative for the possibility that the governor might read his note, “Please, oh please, may you pardon me?” This would be the outline of the letter.
So, too, we can go to God very humbly and very respectfully, knowing that He is upon the throne and that we are a sinful creature, a rebel deserving to die, “O Lord, have mercy! Have mercy because I do not deserve your mercy.” This is how we go to God.
How often should we go to Him and pray in this manner? One time? Someone might think, “Well, I asked God for mercy a while back and He never heard me.” How about a hundred times? Should we say, “I will ask God 100 times”? Or a thousand?
I do not know how many times my friend went to God asking Him for mercy, but I do know this. We cannot set any limit on God. We cannot say, “God, I will ask You for mercy up until a point; but after that, I am done with it!”
No, we just humbly go to God. By His grace, today is still the day of salvation. We have a little time, a little space between now and the end; between now and May 21st when the door of mercy is shut eternally on this world and on mankind. From now until then, we are permitted to continue to go to Him. This is a great privilege that grows greater each day, because this privilege will be removed after May 21st. But we can go to the Lord right now and say, “O Lord, have mercy; please have mercy.”
Sometimes Jesus would hear someone crying out to Him and act as if He did not hear. He would test people at times and try them to see if they would get discouraged. Would they stop? Would they go to some other place?
May none of us be discouraged. May none of us go anywhere else, for there is no other place. Only Christ has “the words of eternal life,” and God Himself would have us to continue to keep coming to Him and approaching Him, as we read in Luke 18:1-6:
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
You see, this is an account of an unjust judge. But our Judge is very just. He is very holy and pure and right. The God and judge of all the earth will do right.
If this poor widow woman could find her plea finally answered by an unjust judge, may you be encouraged to lay hold of God in prayer and determine, “I do not know what is going to happen, but may I not be brought down to the end of my life without earnestly going to the Lord and crying to Him and not fainting.”
May the Lord have mercy on you.