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00:00:01 Have you ever heard 00:00:02 a brother pray to Jehovah 00:00:05 and it just sort of touches your heart 00:00:07 —the words he uses 00:00:09 and his mannerisms and so forth? 00:00:12 And you may say to yourself, 00:00:14 ‘Well, I wish I could talk to Jehovah like that.’ 00:00:18 Well, maybe the way you talk to Jehovah 00:00:22 is not like that. 00:00:24 You may not have all those words to use, and so forth, 00:00:29 due to a lack of education 00:00:31 when it comes to the English language, and so forth, 00:00:34 but what you do have is in your heart. 00:00:38 And when you pour your heart out to Jehovah, 00:00:41 he hears you and he blesses you 00:00:44 just like he would bless the one who has all the words 00:00:48 and the good mannerisms, and so forth. 00:00:51 So don’t worry about it. 00:00:53 Just pray to Jehovah from your heart. 00:00:56 It’s not the words that he’s that interested in; 00:01:01 it’s what comes out of the heart. 00:01:04 So, no doubt, you are just as close to Jehovah 00:01:08 as that one that you admire. 00:01:10 And there’s certainly nothing wrong 00:01:12 with admiring a brother who has that ability, or a sister. 00:01:16 But don’t worry about it; 00:01:19 that is not the main thing that Jehovah looks at. 00:01:24 Your approach has to come from the heart, 00:01:29 and if it does, it pleases Jehovah. 00:01:34 Notice something here in the Bible at 1 Samuel 16:7. 00:01:40 It says: “But Jehovah said to Samuel: 00:01:45 “‘Do not pay attention to his appearance and how tall he is, 00:01:49 “‘for I have rejected him. 00:01:51 “‘For the way man sees is not the way God sees, 00:01:55 “‘because mere man sees what appears to the eyes, 00:02:00 but Jehovah sees into the heart.’” 00:02:05 That’s a beautiful scripture, 00:02:07 and it is one that humbles us before Jehovah. 00:02:13 We’re glad that he looks at our heart, 00:02:15 and we certainly want him to do that. 00:02:18 I’d like to tell you about something. 00:02:23 It has to do with a brother, an older brother, 00:02:27 years ago in one of the circuits I had. 00:02:31 And we were at the dinner table. 00:02:33 His wife wasn’t in the truth, but she prepared a fine meal for us. 00:02:37 He was a fine brother —elder in the congregation. 00:02:41 And it got around to: 00:02:45 “What did you do before you got the truth? 00:02:47 What kind of work did you do?” and so forth. 00:02:49 And he said, 00:02:51 “I was a professional brother who prayed.” 00:02:58 He said, “The preachers in our town hired me 00:03:03 to go to their churches on Sunday and pray.” 00:03:08 He said: “I had the ability to use right words. 00:03:13 “And my deep voice and mannerism 00:03:17 “just caused them to reach deep into their billfolds 00:03:21 “and pocketbooks and give money. 00:03:24 “So afterward, the preachers would divvy it up and pay me off. 00:03:29 “So I made quite a bit of money that way 00:03:32 —‘professional prayer.’” 00:03:36 Well, of course, he got the truth, 00:03:40 and he learned that that business was no good, 00:03:46 but he still could pray and reach the heart. 00:03:51 And that’s what prayer is all about, isn’t it? 00:03:54 Our text today deals with drawing close to Jehovah. 00:03:59 And one of the main ways that we draw close to Jehovah is through prayer. 00:04:04 Whether we’re on our knees 00:04:06 or standing or lying down, it matters not. 00:04:09 Jehovah still hears. 00:04:11 Silent prayers he hears. 00:04:13 We can pray as we’re driving the automobile 00:04:15 or doing anything else, 00:04:17 and he hears our prayers 00:04:20 if they come out of the heart. 00:04:23 And, of course, we have to pray in the right way. 00:04:27 Years ago, we had a program out in the traveling work 00:04:30 called “New Things Learned.” 00:04:33 Now, we changed that later on to “Continue in the Things That You Learned.” 00:04:37 But at this particular time, it was “New Things Learned.” 00:04:40 And I was a circuit overseer, 00:04:42 so I had the program on a Saturday evening 00:04:44 —“New Things Learned.” 00:04:46 One of my questions was, 00:04:48 “When you pray to Jehovah, 00:04:52 “do you go through Jesus at the beginning 00:04:56 “or during your prayer or at the end, 00:05:00 or does it matter?” 00:05:02 Well, we got all kinds of answers. 00:05:04 I tell you the truth. 00:05:06 You wouldn’t believe it if you were there 00:05:08 —all kinds of answers! 00:05:10 So anyway, we finally gave them the correct answer, and so forth. 00:05:14 At the end of the meeting, 00:05:16 I called on an older brother (very fine brother in the truth) to pray. 00:05:22 And he prayed to Jesus. 00:05:27 I said, “Brother, why did you pray to Jesus?” 00:05:29 He said: “I didn’t know who to pray to. 00:05:31 I was so confused.” 00:05:37 So Gloria, my wife, said, 00:05:39 “Please, don’t use that on the ‘New Things Learned’ anymore.” 00:05:43 But that was truly a new thing learned. 00:05:45 ‘We just hope you unlearned it, congregation.’ 00:05:49 Anyway, we feel that that prayer was heard by Jehovah. 00:05:53 He takes into consideration who we are, 00:05:57 what we have to give, and how we can do it, and so forth. 00:06:00 But we wouldn’t practice a thing like that. 00:06:02 We wouldn’t deliberately ignore him and pray to Jesus; that’s for sure. 00:06:08 But prayer is necessary. 00:06:13 We’re really not qualified to judge 00:06:17 whether the prayers of our brothers 00:06:20 are received favorably by Jehovah or not. 00:06:23 Some words come from the brain and out of the mouth, 00:06:26 while others come from the heart and out of the mouth. 00:06:32 We ask ourselves, ‘Am I speaking to Jehovah from my heart 00:06:36 or only from my brain?’ 00:06:38 When we speak to Jehovah, we want to use truthful words 00:06:42 that come from the heart 00:06:44 —words “seasoned with salt,” the Bible tells us, 00:06:48 “gracious,” 00:06:50 words that are in good taste, 00:06:52 respectful, 00:06:54 and wholesome. 00:06:56 Job’s short prayer came from the heart 00:06:59 at Job 1:21 00:07:02 —just a real short prayer— 00:07:04 but Jehovah heard it. 00:07:06 And, of course, he was with Job all the way. 00:07:11 If he hadn’t been with Job, 00:07:13 Job would have had a hard time, wouldn’t he, worse than he had? 00:07:16 But here’s his prayer. 00:07:17 He said: “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, 00:07:19 “and naked I will return. 00:07:21 “Jehovah has given, and Jehovah has taken away. 00:07:25 “Let the name of Jehovah 00:07:27 continue to be praised.” 00:07:31 Beautiful, isn’t it? 00:07:33 Solomon also gave a beautiful prayer at 1 Kings 3:6-10. 00:07:36 We won’t read that; it’s lengthy. 00:07:39 When we need help, 00:07:42 talk to Jehovah from your heart like Asa did. 00:07:47 And at the very end, 00:07:49 when Asa asked Jehovah to help him 00:07:52 because they had a million people against them 00:07:55 —they were warriors, and he had a small group— 00:07:59 well, Jehovah blessed that prayer. 00:08:02 Asa drew close to Jehovah, 00:08:04 and Jehovah drew close to Asa 00:08:07 so much so that he defeated the Ethiopians 00:08:11 before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 00:08:15 They ran away. 00:08:17 Why? 00:08:18 Well, Asa drew close to Jehovah —that’s why. 00:08:22 And, of course, we want to draw close to Jehovah. 00:08:26 Another way that we draw close to Jehovah 00:08:28 is through meditation. 00:08:30 We want to think about what we pray. 00:08:35 They say a sheep has four compartments in his stomach. 00:08:40 So it takes a long time, sometimes two days or longer, 00:08:43 to digest his food. 00:08:45 Well, some things that we take in, too, are hard to digest. 00:08:49 It takes awhile, and we digest it basically through meditation. 00:08:54 We have to think about it over and over again. 00:08:57 Sometimes we even have to ask others: 00:08:59 “How do you feel about this? How did you understand it? 00:09:02 What did it do for you?” and so forth. 00:09:04 And they’ll help us. 00:09:06 So prayer and meditation —these are the two key things 00:09:11 that we will want to think about 00:09:13 as we endeavor to draw close to Jehovah.
00:00:01 Have you ever heard 00:00:02 a brother pray to Jehovah 00:00:05 and it just sort of touches your heart 00:00:07 —the words he uses 00:00:09 and his mannerisms and so forth? 00:00:12 And you may say to yourself, 00:00:14 ‘Well, I wish I could talk to Jehovah like that.’ 00:00:18 Well, maybe the way you talk to Jehovah 00:00:22 is not like that. 00:00:24 You may not have all those words to use, and so forth, 00:00:29 due to a lack of education 00:00:31 when it comes to the English language, and so forth, 00:00:34 but what you do have is in your heart. 00:00:38 And when you pour your heart out to Jehovah, 00:00:41 he hears you and he blesses you 00:00:44 just like he would bless the one who has all the words 00:00:48 and the good mannerisms, and so forth. 00:00:51 So don’t worry about it. 00:00:53 Just pray to Jehovah from your heart. 00:00:56 It’s not the words that he’s that interested in; 00:01:01 it’s what comes out of the heart. 00:01:04 So, no doubt, you are just as close to Jehovah 00:01:08 as that one that you admire. 00:01:10 And there’s certainly nothing wrong 00:01:12 with admiring a brother who has that ability, or a sister. 00:01:16 But don’t worry about it; 00:01:19 that is not the main thing that Jehovah looks at. 00:01:24 Your approach has to come from the heart, 00:01:29 and if it does, it pleases Jehovah. 00:01:34 Notice something here in the Bible at 1 Samuel 16:7. 00:01:40 It says: “But Jehovah said to Samuel: 00:01:45 “‘Do not pay attention to his appearance and how tall he is, 00:01:49 “‘for I have rejected him. 00:01:51 “‘For the way man sees is not the way God sees, 00:01:55 “‘because mere man sees what appears to the eyes, 00:02:00 but Jehovah sees into the heart.’” 00:02:05 That’s a beautiful scripture, 00:02:07 and it is one that humbles us before Jehovah. 00:02:13 We’re glad that he looks at our heart, 00:02:15 and we certainly want him to do that. 00:02:18 I’d like to tell you about something. 00:02:23 It has to do with a brother, an older brother, 00:02:27 years ago in one of the circuits I had. 00:02:31 And we were at the dinner table. 00:02:33 His wife wasn’t in the truth, but she prepared a fine meal for us. 00:02:37 He was a fine brother —elder in the congregation. 00:02:41 And it got around to: 00:02:45 “What did you do before you got the truth? 00:02:47 What kind of work did you do?” and so forth. 00:02:49 And he said, 00:02:51 “I was a professional brother who prayed.” 00:02:58 He said, “The preachers in our town hired me 00:03:03 to go to their churches on Sunday and pray.” 00:03:08 He said: “I had the ability to use right words. 00:03:13 “And my deep voice and mannerism 00:03:17 “just caused them to reach deep into their billfolds 00:03:21 “and pocketbooks and give money. 00:03:24 “So afterward, the preachers would divvy it up and pay me off. 00:03:29 “So I made quite a bit of money that way 00:03:32 —‘professional prayer.’” 00:03:36 Well, of course, he got the truth, 00:03:40 and he learned that that business was no good, 00:03:46 but he still could pray and reach the heart. 00:03:51 And that’s what prayer is all about, isn’t it? 00:03:54 Our text today deals with drawing close to Jehovah. 00:03:59 And one of the main ways that we draw close to Jehovah is through prayer. 00:04:04 Whether we’re on our knees 00:04:06 or standing or lying down, it matters not. 00:04:09 Jehovah still hears. 00:04:11 Silent prayers he hears. 00:04:13 We can pray as we’re driving the automobile 00:04:15 or doing anything else, 00:04:17 and he hears our prayers 00:04:20 if they come out of the heart. 00:04:23 And, of course, we have to pray in the right way. 00:04:27 Years ago, we had a program out in the traveling work 00:04:30 called “New Things Learned.” 00:04:33 Now, we changed that later on to “Continue in the Things That You Learned.” 00:04:37 But at this particular time, it was “New Things Learned.” 00:04:40 And I was a circuit overseer, 00:04:42 so I had the program on a Saturday evening 00:04:44 —“New Things Learned.” 00:04:46 One of my questions was, 00:04:48 “When you pray to Jehovah, 00:04:52 “do you go through Jesus at the beginning 00:04:56 “or during your prayer or at the end, 00:05:00 or does it matter?” 00:05:02 Well, we got all kinds of answers. 00:05:04 I tell you the truth. 00:05:06 You wouldn’t believe it if you were there 00:05:08 —all kinds of answers! 00:05:10 So anyway, we finally gave them the correct answer, and so forth. 00:05:14 At the end of the meeting, 00:05:16 I called on an older brother (very fine brother in the truth) to pray. 00:05:22 And he prayed to Jesus. 00:05:27 I said, “Brother, why did you pray to Jesus?” 00:05:29 He said: “I didn’t know who to pray to. 00:05:31 I was so confused.” 00:05:37 So Gloria, my wife, said, 00:05:39 “Please, don’t use that on the ‘New Things Learned’ anymore.” 00:05:43 But that was truly a new thing learned. 00:05:45 ‘We just hope you unlearned it, congregation.’ 00:05:49 Anyway, we feel that that prayer was heard by Jehovah. 00:05:53 He takes into consideration who we are, 00:05:57 what we have to give, and how we can do it, and so forth. 00:06:00 But we wouldn’t practice a thing like that. 00:06:02 We wouldn’t deliberately ignore him and pray to Jesus; that’s for sure. 00:06:08 But prayer is necessary. 00:06:13 We’re really not qualified to judge 00:06:17 whether the prayers of our brothers 00:06:20 are received favorably by Jehovah or not. 00:06:23 Some words come from the brain and out of the mouth, 00:06:26 while others come from the heart and out of the mouth. 00:06:32 We ask ourselves, ‘Am I speaking to Jehovah from my heart 00:06:36 or only from my brain?’ 00:06:38 When we speak to Jehovah, we want to use truthful words 00:06:42 that come from the heart 00:06:44 —words “seasoned with salt,” the Bible tells us, 00:06:48 “gracious,” 00:06:50 words that are in good taste, 00:06:52 respectful, 00:06:54 and wholesome. 00:06:56 Job’s short prayer came from the heart 00:06:59 at Job 1:21 00:07:02 —just a real short prayer— 00:07:04 but Jehovah heard it. 00:07:06 And, of course, he was with Job all the way. 00:07:11 If he hadn’t been with Job, 00:07:13 Job would have had a hard time, wouldn’t he, worse than he had? 00:07:16 But here’s his prayer. 00:07:17 He said: “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, 00:07:19 “and naked I will return. 00:07:21 “Jehovah has given, and Jehovah has taken away. 00:07:25 “Let the name of Jehovah 00:07:27 continue to be praised.” 00:07:31 Beautiful, isn’t it? 00:07:33 Solomon also gave a beautiful prayer at 1 Kings 3:6-10. 00:07:36 We won’t read that; it’s lengthy. 00:07:39 When we need help, 00:07:42 talk to Jehovah from your heart like Asa did. 00:07:47 And at the very end, 00:07:49 when Asa asked Jehovah to help him 00:07:52 because they had a million people against them 00:07:55 —they were warriors, and he had a small group— 00:07:59 well, Jehovah blessed that prayer. 00:08:02 Asa drew close to Jehovah, 00:08:04 and Jehovah drew close to Asa 00:08:07 so much so that he defeated the Ethiopians 00:08:11 before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 00:08:15 They ran away. 00:08:17 Why? 00:08:18 Well, Asa drew close to Jehovah —that’s why. 00:08:22 And, of course, we want to draw close to Jehovah. 00:08:26 Another way that we draw close to Jehovah 00:08:28 is through meditation. 00:08:30 We want to think about what we pray. 00:08:35 They say a sheep has four compartments in his stomach. 00:08:40 So it takes a long time, sometimes two days or longer, 00:08:43 to digest his food. 00:08:45 Well, some things that we take in, too, are hard to digest. 00:08:49 It takes awhile, and we digest it basically through meditation. 00:08:54 We have to think about it over and over again. 00:08:57 Sometimes we even have to ask others: 00:08:59 “How do you feel about this? How did you understand it? 00:09:02 What did it do for you?” and so forth. 00:09:04 And they’ll help us. 00:09:06 So prayer and meditation —these are the two key things 00:09:11 that we will want to think about 00:09:13 as we endeavor to draw close to Jehovah.
