Continue in Prayer
A survey about 15 years ago stated that 9 out of 10 Americans reported that they prayed on a somewhat regular basis. Now it's reported that number is closer to 6 out of 10. And looking at our current culture, I don't really think that's a surprise. Last week I spoke about prayer and got a lot of feedback - so I decided to talk about it a bit more. And I hope you took my challenge seriously - did you pray for someone and then tell them you prayed for them? If you forgot - no reason you couldn't do it this week...
At Thanksgiving I said you can't really be too grateful - and the same applies to prayer. It's pretty hard to spend too much time in prayer. And I'm not just talking about cloistering ourselves away in a closet. We do have to spend time with lots of daily work just to live and survive in this world. Sometimes, prayer is shutting out everything else to focus completely on God. But it's also an ongoing attitude and acknowledging our constant awareness of God's presence in our daily lives.
But I'm sure you've noticed - it's usually when things get hard that we focus more on prayer. Why does it take difficult times to drive us to prayer? I haven't seen any studies, but I'm guessing with all the turmoil in the middle East - there's probably been an uptick in many people's prayer times recently. If we truly believe in the power of prayer - why don't we pray more? Many times, the response to that question is – "Sure I thank God for things and I pray for sick people - but beyond that, I just really don't know how."
- How do we develop communication with people? At the beginning of a relationship you start with surface level talk, but as you get to know one another - the conversation gets deeper. And after spending years together - communication just flows freely, and you can talk about anything. That's a bit like your relationship with God. You get more comfortable with prayer the more time you spend in it with God.
We spent some time last week talking about the need to pray and the power of prayer. And I want to start again with this very basic truth...
I. Christians pray
If we claim the name "Christian", we're supposed to follow Jesus' example. One of the things that marked Jesus' time on earth was prayer, talking to His Father. Jesus prayed - therefore – we pray. If we look through the Old Testament, there are a myriad of verses that reference God's people praying. One such passage says in Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)...
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
And in the New Testament Jesus Himself says...
Matthew 7:7 (NIV)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
And the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6 (NIV)...
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
All of these verses talk about prayer, and it's not really a question of "if" God's people talk to Him in prayer – it's "when". Paul gives his command assuming that we are praying. Because, really, how can you follow God's leading if you're not in communication with Him?
We know the Bible describes prayer in multiple ways - Bowing your knees, Looking up, Lifting up your soul, Lifting up your heart, Pouring out your heart, Pouring out your soul, Calling upon the name of the Lord, Crying out to God, Drawing near to God, Crying to heaven, Beseeching the Lord, Seeking God, Seeking the face of the Lord.
- Long list! All of these things share one thing in common – they are all focused on God. - "Bowing the knees" to God. - "Looking up" to God. All of them bring our focus to God. Through prayer - a believer comes to understand just how utterly dependent we are on God as our source of strength. And given the decline of faith and Church attendance in our nation, there's one area of our prayer lives for which I want to encourage you to pray. And that's for...
A. Boldness
In the current 'cancel culture' in which we live - taking a bold stand for Jesus or Biblical values has a little higher price than it did a generation or two ago. But if we're going to have any solid influence for Jesus - if we're going to persuade anyone of the truth of Jesus - we need boldness! And not an 'in your face' kind of attitude, but a firm, unmoving, uncompromising boldness for God's truth! Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:19-20 (NIV)...
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Notice that Paul doesn't ask for prayers that God would keep him out of 'dicey' situations or help him avoid confrontation with those who strongly disagree with him. He's not even asking God to change his circumstances - to remove his chains; he's asking for prayers for God to change Him – to give him boldness to speak the truth even when it might get him into more trouble.
We need to pray for God to give us boldness to spread His Word! Without boldness, the early Church would never have thrived as it did. And this is one of those spiritually minded things I want to encourage us to focus on rather than just physical concerns. - But - even though my desire for our prayer list is to reflect more of these 'spiritual' kinds of requests - it's undeniable that we ARE also encouraged to pray for…
B. Healing
And that's certainly a physical concern, but there's absolutely a spiritual component for the believer. Healing is something we may receive through modern medical skills, but remember – the only way Dr.'s can heal anyone is by understanding how God put us together and how He created us to work. We're clearly told in James 5:13-15 (NIV)...
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. (14) Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. (15) And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
"The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." I've pointed out this verse before. How do we reconcile that statement with the fact that some people who are prayed for do not get well? I've read different scholars who suggest the bigger point is about spiritual healing - and that's accurate. But the way I've understood this passage best is what I was told by the theologian Tom Weissert, "Sometimes God removes the pain from the person. Other times God removes the person from the pain."
I don't claim to have all the answers – but I do know this. We are supposed to ask God for healing. And – this is key to understanding - genuine, honest prayer is not about getting our will done in Heaven, it is about getting God's will done on earth! And I know this – when our prayers are directly aligned with God's will – powerful things happen! But our focus must be...
C. God's Will
One of the most insightful stories to help understand this comes from the author C.S. Lewis. He was struggling with prayer when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. He prayed fervently for healing, but his wife still passed away. He said, "I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping." (But prayer) "doesn't change God. It changes me."
My prayers need to be most focused on seeking God's will and allowing Him to use me to accomplish His goal - not the other way around. If our prayers are most focused on us persuading God to change His will to our will - in a real sense - that's using Him to accomplish our goal. I had a professor in college who said, "If God were to answer all of our prayers the way we want Him to, He wouldn't be God!"
Only God knows the 'big picture' and knows what will accomplish His perfect plan for all of mankind AND the best for each of his children! And of course it doesn't always make sense to us! Because I couldn't possibly understand the scope of God's cosmic, universal plan! And if it was small enough to fit into my understanding - it wouldn't be a very good plan...
We are absolutely encouraged to ask anything of God - to request healing, to request He change situations - but ultimately we need to come to the point, that even if nothing changes - or even if it gets worse – we need to come to the point where we can still trust God and put our faith in His Holy, perfect Will!
And that's a pretty big step in our prayer life. It's easy to trust God when things are going well and when they make sense. But faith trusts through pain, and confusion, and even when God feels distant or seems to remain silent. There are times when we will have to trust Him, even to the point of death! And that's just about impossible on our own. God understands that - and that's one reason He provided...
II. The Holy Spirit
God's Holy Spirit is kind of to prayer what electricity is to a light bulb. No electricity – no light. Without God's power in our prayers – they'll focus mostly on our wishes and be extremely ineffective. But God has promised that those who accept Jesus in baptism receive His Holy Spirit to work...
A. On us and In us
Here's the mystery of the Holy Spirit - somehow, God's Holy Spirit helps us to understand things by faith that otherwise would be impossible to understand or accept…
1 Corinthians 2:9-14 (NIV)
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" - (10) but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (11) For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
(12) We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. (13) This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. (14) The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
And another benefit of God's Spirit in us is the Spirit's ability to intercede with God on our behalf. God's Holy Spirit helps us to pray - and especially when we don't feel that we even have a clue what to pray for… And when we learn to regularly spend time in God's presence in prayer through the power of God's Holy Spirit – He then...
B. Changes us
A perfect example is The Apostles. These men followed Jesus closely for three years. They learned directly from the Master. But when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, we read this in Matthew 26:56 (NIV)...
"But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
But - we know that's not the end of the story, let's jump ahead to the book of Acts, after Jesus' resurrection…
Acts 1:4-8 (NIV)
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. (5) For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (6) So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (7) He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
(8) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
In the next chapter of Acts, they received the Holy Spirit, and look what happened. Here were some men who previously ran out on Jesus for fear of losing their lives. Now, after they received God's Holy Spirit – everything changed. The early history book, "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", gives us insight into each of these transformed men.
- Peter - it says "he was crucified, his head being down and his feet upward, himself so requiring, because he was (he said) unworthy to be crucified after the same form and manner as the Lord was." Andrew - we're told he was crucified on a cross; Philip - He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified; Bartholomew - He was "at length cruelly beaten and then crucified"; Thomas - thrust through with a spear for preaching the Gospel message; Matthew - slain with a weapon called a halberd, James the less - he was beaten to death with a club; Thaddeus was crucified; Simon the Zealot was crucified; Matthias - He was crushed by stones at Jerusalem and then beheaded; James the son of Zebedee - beheaded; John was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. But he escaped miraculously without injury. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
Here we had a group of men who were previously running away from Jesus to save their lives. Then they received the gift of the Holy Spirit and were so transformed that even imminent violent deaths couldn't stop them from preaching the Good News of Jesus! It's been said that the lives of the early Christians consisted of "persecution above ground and prayer below ground."
So What?
We need to pray. We can talk about it, we can study it, we can preach about it - but the fact remains we just need to jump in with both feet and do it! ...And do it often! The Spirit who transformed the early disciples is the exact same Spirit we have been given! Do not underestimate the power that prayer has to change us!
Prayer in the Spirit changes us. It has the power to soften hearts hardened against God. Prayer has the power to break addictions that have 'strangle holds' on our lives. Prayer can heal broken relationships. Prayer can change things! But most importantly, prayer can change us - help us to find God's will and give us the power to do it!
Imagine what Deep River would look like if each of us would allow God to transform us through our prayer lives! Imagine if we each took the call to pray seriously! God is willing and completely able to use us for His incredible purposes if we give ourselves to Him in prayer!