5 Points Concerning Prayer Every Christian Should Hear

You can find a free downloadable discussion guide to go with this sermon at https://getencouraged.blog/resources/.

Read Luke 11:1-13

Introduction

A young boy asked his parents for a baby brother, and seeing a perfect opportunity to teach their son a valuable lesson on prayer, the parents said, “Alex, if you pray each morning and evening for one month, you will get a baby brother.”

Alex was all in for a couple weeks. He didn’t miss a prayer time. Each morning and evening he prayed for a baby brother. About the third week, Alex was tired of praying and stopped, but he didn’t say anything to his parents.

The month ended, and Alex’s mom left for a few days. When she came home, she called Alex into her bedroom. Alex entered the room to see his mom sitting on the bed holding her newborn sons. The couple had twins.

“Look at your baby brothers,” mom said. “Aren’t you glad you prayed for one month?”

Alex thought for a moment and responded, “Aren’t you glad I stopped after only two weeks?”

Though 55% of respondents say they pray daily, a study revealed that prayer is on a downward trend, especially among younger generations. Prayer, as we know, is powerful and effective, yet it does not seem like Christians are taking full advantage of the opportunity to approach the Lord in prayer. What stops us from praying?

It can be any number of distractions interrupting our prayer life, but you and I need to ensure we pray consistently. Jesus’ disciples were so impressed by his prayer life they asked him to teach them. Luke 11:1 says, on a certain occasion when Jesus had finished praying, his disciples came to him with this request, “Lord, can you teach us how to pray?”

Think about their request for just a moment. Standing before them was the master of all things, and they want to learn how to pray. The disciples realized the importance of prayer, and they wanted to learn from the master of prayer. Jesus teaches them how to pray, and in doing so, gives you and I some pointers. Here are five things every Christian needs to remember when we pray.

POINT 1: Eloquent Words are not Required

The first pointer we see is our prayers do not have to be fancy.

Do you ever stumble over your words when you pray? You hear other people offer eloquent prayers. You hear these well-crafted masterpieces and compare your own prayers which you believe are anything but well-crafted masterpieces.

“I’m not eloquent enough,” you and I think. We tell ourselves, “My prayers are just not good enough.” The Bible says differently though.

In our text, Jesus says, “When you pray, start by saying, ‘Our Father….” God is our Father and we are his children, so we don’t have to be eloquent in our prayers.

Prayer is a conversation with our Dad, so we should talk with him as if he is our Dad. How many dads care if their children mess up a word or two. I don’t, and I can’t imagine you do either. We are just glad when our kids have a conversation with us. We are not tabulating how many words they say wrong or how many mistakes they make. We are engaged in the conversation.

The Lord is the same way. He wants to hear from us; he’s thrilled when we talk with him. Mispronouncing words or not having completely cohesive sentences is not a bother to him. He is thrilled when we pray. He is thrilled when we talk with him. Prayer does not have to be eloquent.

POINT 2: God Answers in His Timing

The second point is God answers prayer in his timing. This is a valuable point for Christians to remember. Praying and thinking there is no answer coming can be discouraging; however, God always gives us an answer. He gives us the right answer in his timing.

The Bible helps us understand how God works in his timing by telling us the story of Israel in Egypt. If you’re not familiar with the Exodus account, Israel was moved to Egypt to escape a severe famine and while they were there, the country served as an incubator to grow the nation as God had promised.

Many years after arriving in Egypt, the Israelites find themselves enslaved to the Egyptians who are treating them harshly. Day after day the Israelites pray for relief, and day after day, they remain in slavery. It does not seem God was hearing their prayers.

Can you relate? Day after day you pray for something, but you do not receive your answer. We become discouraged, and just want to stop praying. But that is the wrong thing to do. God will answer us in his timing.