The Power of Prayer
There is a priest in Dublin, Ireland named Father Foster
He tells about the day
he parked his car on a rather steep slope
close to his church.
His little terrier was lying on the back seat
and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle.
Father Foster got out of the car,
turned to lock the door,
and gave his usual parting command to his dog.
"Stay!" he ordered loudly.
An elderly man was watching the performance with amused interest.
Grinning, he suggested,
"Why don’t you just try putting on the emergency brake?"
Today Jesus reflects on the power of prayer.
To one who doesn’t believe in the power of prayer
watching someone pray
is the equal to watching someone say, "Stay," to their automobile
To one who doesn’t believe in the power of prayer
prayer is an exercise in futility.
But to one who believes in the power of prayer,
prayer is the most powerful
and the most reliable force in the world today.
It is clear that Jesus believed in prayer.
His disciples often observed Jesus praying.
I always give the Confirmation Class the definition:
Prayer is communicating with God.
Since prayer was important to Jesus,
the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.
And Jesus gladly agreed.
You’ve already heard a skit
explaining what the Lord’s Prayer means
This then, is a model prayer.
covering the necessities of everyday spiritual living.
It leads us to focus on the basics of life.
Then, Jesus continues his "lesson" with a little story.
It involves a friend
who contacts you late at night
with a request for food because they have company.
Since there were no 24 hour stores to buy food at
and your friend is persistent
you finally agree to help.
This parable is not a blanket promise
that our prayers will be answered
This parable is not a guide
on how to manipulate God into doing what we want.
Mark Powell, professor of NT at Trinity Lutheran Seminary,
suggests this option as we look at the story:
Think of the story
as having an origin in Jesus’ own memories of rural peasant life.
Imagine him as a child in Nazareth.
After dark, his father Joseph gathers the entire family –
Mary, Jesus, James, Joses, Jude, Simon, the daughters
and probably the more valuable of their animals
into the one-room home
Homes in those days measured perhaps 12 feet square.
The only opening was closed an bolted
and, of course, there was no light.
Somehow, everyone went to sleep, piled on top of each other.
Now, suddenly, someone comes knocking at the door:
a neighbor wants Joseph to get up,
light a lamp,
wake up all the children,
find him some bread,
and open the door
so that he can offer this to a guest who has come late to visit.
Now who wants to answer the door
or for that matter answer the phone
after you and the kids have gone to bed?
Yet the Bible says
Joseph was a righteous man (Matthew 1:19),
and it’s probably safe to say
he wasn’t real excited about this sort of thing.
Still, Jesus remembers,
he got up, grumbling,
and he helped out his friend.
Professor Mark Powell says,
Let’s say that happened.
Years later, Jesus could recall such a story
and tell it for the amusement of an audience
who had neighbors like that themselves.
SO WHAT IS THE POINT?
“Is that the way God thinks of us?”
Jesus asks his audience to consider:
a pesky neighbor’?
NO
God loves to give to us.
Maybe sometimes we do come with stupid requests.
But God takes care of us either way.
Because God loves to give to us.
The point of praying
is to ask for what God wants to give,
to search out his will,
to knock on the doors that lead to life.
Jesus goes on to say
that we should ask, search, and knock.
which means RISK
What if no one answers,
what if I search down the wrong road,
what if the door is never opened?
Prayer involves great risk.
Are we willing to take that risk?
Abraham takes a big risk
in our first lesson in requesting of God
that he consider sparing Sodom and Gommorah
if only 50 righteous are found there.
He takes an even bigger risk paring that number down to 10!
But prayer is also an intimate action.
Asking involves being face to face with someone.
Searching involves curiosity and innovation.
Knocking is not for the timid.
Abraham is face to face with these strangers
which he comes to realize are God’s presence with him now.
He asks them directly What if?????
He is searching out God’s mercy and grace.
He is also persistent
continuing to search for God’s grace
knocking not once or twice
but keeps on pursuing his goal
Jesus says that all who ask receive,
all who search find,
all who knock will have a door opened for them
Jesus does not say what they will receive, find, or walk into.
Many times we take the word of Jesus literally
Ask for rain during a drought
and it will come (if we have faith).
Ask for healing
and God will heal (if we have faith)
Ask for wealth, good grades, a promotion,
better marital relations, etc.
And God will provide (if we have faith)
But that is not what Jesus says here m this passage.
The last verse of our lesson says
that one who prays will receive the Holy Spirit.
not riches, wealth, fame, glory,
or even a new car, but the Holy Spirit.
And that is exactly and only what we need.
During a drought or flood we need the Holy Spirit
to give us the strength, humility, and wisdom to survive the elements.
During times of sickness,
we need the Holy Spirit, the comforter,
to take care of our bodies.
During a family crisis,
we need the Holy Spirit, the Guide,
to show what course to take,.
Without God’s Spirit
we simply cannot survive in the ups and downs of this world.
The Holy Spirit is God’s one answer to all of our prayers.
Whatever we ask for,
whatever we seek,
whatever door we want opened
God gives the Spirit and that is sufficient.
Finally Jesus says, prayer has a pay off.
Now, someone may be offended.
the word "pay off" may sound crude.
But Jesus is as plain as he can be
that if we are persistent in our prayer,
God will meet our needs.
We can trust God.
The answer to our prayers
may not be just the answer we had prescribed,
but God can be trusted.
Our prayers will not go unheeded.
It’s like a little girl
who crawled up into her father’s lap
while was reading the newspaper.
She told him how much she wanted him to build her a doll house.
She didn’t climb down till her daddy had promised to do just that,
although he was somewhat distracted and agreed
mostly because he wanted to be allowed to continue to read his paper.
He forgot about his promise until he walked into her room one evening
and saw all her dolls and doll furniture were packed to move into the new dollhouse.
When he asked her about it,
she simply told him
that she knew he would be building it
(even though has hadn’t yet begun!)
because he had promised that he would.
That was goo enough for her.
I don’t know of a better definition of faith.
God has promised to heed our prayers.
They will not go unanswered.
Today we celebrate the prayer Jesus shared with us
He promises to hear us
and answer us
So Ask, Seek, and Knock!
Amen.
