Pray Communally Series

HoHum:

“Alone, Alone, All, All, Alone, Alone on a Wide Wide Sea! And Never a Saint Took Pity on My Soul in Agony.” Those lines, from the Samuel Coleridge poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” reflect the way many people feel today. We live in a lonely time. This is ironic considering we are more connected than ever before- via email, text, social media, cell phones, etc. We are often surrounded by people- in stores, at the office, in church. Most of us know far more people than our grandparents and great grandparents ever did. Yet feelings of disconnectedness and aloneness are epidemic. The surgeon general even wrote a paper on the epidemic of loneliness. There are many people in our lives but how many of those people do we really know? We work long hours trying to meet unrealistic expectations. We race from one commitment to another. We struggle to keep the lawn moved and the laundry done. New neighbors moved in 2 years ago and we still haven’t introduced ourselves. 40 years ago, when researchers asked a cross section of Americans how many close confidants they had- people with whom they could discuss their innermost thoughts, fears, or joys- the most common response was 3. When they asked again in 2006, the most common answer was zero. If the survey were to be taken today, it seems likely the news would be even worse. If we feel alone, we are alone!

WBTU:

Jesus began the Model Prayer with “Our Father.” Let’s recite that prayer together.

Notice not “My Father” but “Our Father.” It is a small word- just 3 letters long in English, but there is a lot of meaning in that word. What does it mean? It means we never pray alone

Thesis: With whom do we pray?

For instances:

1. We pray with Jesus

Jesus incorporated us with Him in that tiny word “our.” In other words, when we pray, “our Father,” we pray with Jesus. Even when we are in our prayer closet, we pray with Jesus because He will never leave us nor forsake us. Even more to it than that:

John 14:13-14: I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 16:23-24: In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Talk more about this later

A powerful partnership occurs whenever we pray. We approach the Father in the name of Jesus. Jesus is acting as the Advocate of all “who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25). I like what Andrew Murray, in the book “With Christ in the School of Prayer,” says: This is not as if there were two separate currents of prayer rising upwards- one from Him (Jesus) and one from His people. A substantial life union is also a prayer union. What He prays passes through us, and what we pray passes through Him. He is the angel with the golden censer. Revelation 8:3-4: “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” We never pray alone. We pray with Jesus, and Jesus prays with and for and in and through us. Jesus is the key to true praying.

2. We pray with the Spirit

There are times when pray seems impossible:

A. When I don’t know the circumstances. I am frequently asked to pray for a person or a situation without knowing the details. HIPAA can be a blessing but also a curse. Maybe someone in a prayer meeting gives a request but refuses to elaborate “specials,” my father in law would say. Might be a note on social media: “Please keep my friend in your prayers.” Or a text message that just says, “Pray for me!” At such times I can’t pray, “Lord, heal,” or “Send protection,” “Deliver from temptation” or anything specific because just don’t know.

B. When I am overwhelmed with emotion. During times of tragedy or loss, my emotions make it difficult to pray. Love to have others to come and pray because just cannot do it.

C. When I’m not sure what God’s will is. Over the years I have been asked to pray for many different situations: for someone to get a specific job, for someone’s house to sell, for someone to get out of jail, for someone to seek counseling, for someone to get married, for someone to seek hospice services. Sometimes when I’ve spend time listening to God and asking for His guidance, His will and purposes remain unclear. At such times it is helpful to remember that we have Jesus but we have someone else and that is the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26-27: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” I was praying to God that I could keep the car I had my first semester of my freshman year in college. Got to keep the car (even though it was wrecked a couple of times throughout my college years) but my parent’s filed for divorce. What a selfish request, I should have been praying for my parents and for my family and not about a car. Used to get in the car and think about my family back home and how I would trade this car for family harmony. I felt like I prayed amiss. No worries, the Holy Spirit interprets our requests to the Father and makes them acceptable and understandable to God. Whenever we pray- even when we don’t know what to say or ask- we don’t pray alone; we pray with the Spirit. He intervenes for us according to the will of God, the Bible says, and He does so even when we do know what to say but we say it amiss. He is always praying with us, sometimes focusing our thoughts and polishing our words, and at other times making sense when all we have are tears or grunts or stammers. God does not always go by what we say, he knows our hearts, thank goodness for that!