Are You Too Busy To Pray?

Are You to busy to Pray?

Pastor Glenn Newton

11-13-05

How many of you had a busy week this week? Is there really any week that doesn’t feel busy? Many of you work many hours during the week, plus you give time to your children, to the events and ballgames that seem to never end, right? Many of you on top of that, you minister in the church by teaching on Wed. nights, or Sunday nights… or you serve the church in some other capacity.. We have many who really do give of themselves every week… I know how busy most of you are.

Working a 40 hour job on top of Pastoring this church has helped me realize what kind of time and energy pressures many of you are under. Today I’m not here to try and squeeze more out of you, I’m not challenging you do more than you are already doing….. Aren’t you glad?

Today, I understand that you are a busy bunch of people…. What I want you to hear is this….. The Truth is, we are to busy Not to pray. With the pressures and schedules that we keep, if we are not praying and spending some time with Our Lord, we will crash and burn… we will be like that engine that is running hard, but the oil has all leaked out, and before long, without some more oil being poured in, that engine will lock up and be ruined…. And that’s what life is like without prayer, real meaningful prayer.

Today we are going to learn some habits that will help us in our prayer life. Are you ready?

Before I begin to share some of these habits that can dramatically change our prayer life, I need to show you that yes, even though you are busy…. You still have time that can be used for prayer…. So let’s take a little quiz…. This is just for you…. To help you realize that there is some time at your disposal.

READ Quiz. Give time to answer.

Please understand this… they quiz is not to put you on a guilt trip, but instead to realize that there is always some time available, it’s just a matter of how will I prioritize it.

Let’s look at our Passage this morning… turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 6:5-13 READ NIV… then “the Message” on screen

Matthew 6:5-13 in "The Message"

"And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?

"Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:

"Our Father in heaven.

Reveal who you are.

Set the world right:

Do what’s best -

as above, so below.

Keep us alive with three square meals.

Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.

Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

You’re in charge!

You can do anything you want!

You’re ablaze in beauty!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

This morning I want to share with you 4 Prayer Principles that Jesus is teaching in our passage in Matthew 6.… These could also be called 4 healthy habits for your Spiritual Life…. How many of you could use some healthy habits in your life?

Prayer Principle Number 1

Pray Regularly.

Jesus said, "When you pray," not "if you pray."

Jesus simply assumed the disciples would have a regular time for prayer. That’s an assumption that I’m not sure we can make about Jesus’ disciples today.

I know from talking to Christians through the years about their spiritual lives, their problems, their lives… that a regular, intimate prayer time is not apart of their daily routine in many cases.

The truth is that we need to be as serious about our prayer time with God as we are with our Food for our bodies.. Amen? That food gives us energy and nutrition to get through the day… can you imagine how you would feel if you went without eating for a couple of days and tried to go to work and do all the things that are required of you? You wouldn’t be up to par would you?