CRY OUT TO GOD!

Did any of you, parents, ever hear your child wake from sleep with some panic fear and shriek the mother's name through the darkness? Was not that a more powerful appeal than all words? And, depend upon it, that the soul which cries aloud on God, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," though it have "no language but a cry," will never call in vain.

-- Alexander MacLaren

And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What ails you, Hagar? fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Genesis 21:17

LANGUAGE OF PAIN

A cry is not only brief, but bitter. A cry is a sorrowful thing; it is the language of pain. It would be hard for me to stand here and imitate a cry. No; a cry is not artificial, but a natural production: it is not from the lips, but from the soul, that a man cries. A cry, attended with a flood of tears, a bitter wail, a deep-fetched sigh — these are prayers that enter into the ears of the Most High. O penitent, the more thou sorrowest in thy prayer, the more wings thy prayer has towards God! A cry is a brief thing, and a bitter thing. 

NOT THAT  WHICH IS FINE...

If prayer be a cry, it is clear that it is one of the simplest acts of the mind. God loves natural expressions when we come before Him. Not that which is fine, but that which is on fire, He loves. Not that which is dressed up, but that which leaps out of the soul just as it is born in the heart, He delights to receive.  (Source: C.H. Spurgeon)

• Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
• Psalm 34:6,7 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
• Psalm 12:5  For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, said the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him. 
• Hebrews 2:17,18 For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
• Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

Don’t give up! Do not neglect prayer. 

WHY WE SHOULD PRAY?

As Christians, we are called to pray, but why? But what can we tell God that He doesn’t already know? What can our prayers do? With these questions in mind, Dr. J. Ligon Duncan explains why we should pray in light of God’s sovereignty.