Hebrews 10:22

ESSENTIALS OF TRUE PRAYER

‘Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.’

Hebrews 10:22

The text teaches us how to pray acceptably, and sets before us the three great essentials of acceptable and true prayer.

I. A true heart.—Lip-worship is an abomination unto the Lord. ‘This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.’

(a) A heart true towards God.

(b) A heart true towards ourselves.

(c) A heart true towards others.

II. A strong faith.—‘Without faith it is impossible to please God’; and the stronger our faith, the more pleasing to God.

(a) The mark of a strong faith is assurance.

(b) The faith God requires in our prayers is faith full to assurance.

(c) The faith most honoured by God is that which is full of assurance.

Not merely full up to the point of assurance, but full of assurance. We should seek to attain this degree of faith.

III. A consistent character.—‘Having our hearts sprinkled.’ The expression indicates a consistent character as essential to a devout life—internal purity and outward conformity (Psalms 24:3). The praying man must be he on whom the Spirit of God must rest (Ezekiel 36:25). These three essentials may seem difficult to realise, but Sincerity, Faith, and Consistency are within the reach of all.