Title: The Privilege of Prayer
Series: Prayer 101 (Sermon # 1)
Text: Philippians 4:6-7
Preached: April 27, 2008
COPYRIGHT © Joe La Rue, 2008
Introduction
A. Hook: Recently I came across something called Prayers of Children, containing prayers little kids had prayed to God. Listen:
From Debbie, age 7: “Dear God: Please send a new baby for Mommy. The new baby you sent last week cries too much.”
From Jimmy, age 6: “Who’s smarter? Boys or girls? Me and my sister want to know.”
From David, age 7: “Dear God: I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father. Thank you.”
From Diane, age 8: ‘Dear God: I am saying my prayers for me and my brother, Billy, because Billy is six months old and he can’t do anything but sleep and wet his diapers.”
From Angela, age 8: “Dear God: This is my prayer. Could you please give my brother some brains. So far he doesn’t have any.”
(Source Unknown, located at http://www.net153.com/magazine/subscription/humor/kids/childrens_prayers.htm (last visited April 22, 2008)).
From Norma, “Dear God, did you mean for giraffes to look like that or was it an accident?”
And my favorite, from Joyce: “Dear God, Thank you for the baby brother but what I asked for was a puppy. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up.”
(Source Unknown, located at http://www.christiansoldierscross.com/prayers_of_children.htm (last visited April 22, 2008)).
B. Well, this morning we are beginning a series of messages about the privilege of prayer. The hymn writer Joseph Scriven expressed it this way:
“What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear? What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.”
Joseph M. Scriven, What A Friend We Have In Jesus (1855).
C. I want to speak to you today about the tremendous privilege that prayer is, a privilege that many of us may not fully take advantage of, and because of that, we rob ourselves of much of the joy and peace and personal growth God desires us to experience.
D. Let me begin by giving us a working definition of prayer. If you haven’t already done so, please take your sermon notes sheet from within your program. I’ve given you a blank on the notes page to fill in with this definition. Here we go. At it’s very simplest, prayer is communing with God. It’s pouring our hearts out before Him. It’s sharing our thoughts and our feelings, and – here’s your second blank – allowing Him to work in our lives through the experience. That’s the definition of prayer that we’ll be utilizing through this entire series – communing with God, and allowing Him to work in our lives. That’s true prayer, and throughout this series we’ll be unpacking that definition and seeing how it plays out in our lives today.
E. Trans: But this morning, I want to share two reasons why prayer is such a tremendous privilege. Then I will explain how to better experience this privilege. First, why is prayer a privilege? Number one, on your outlines, because of who God is, and who we are.
I. Why Prayer Is A Privilege
A. Because of Who God Is, and Who We Are. What an amazing thing that the God of the universe, the one who created all there is and sustains it by His power; the one who is radiant and holy and full of glory, has invited us to come into His presence and pour our hearts out before Him in this thing we call prayer. It amazes me that God would invite us to do that. I mean, when I think of who he is, and who I am.... Why would God want to hear from me?
1. This is the same question that confounded King David. He wrote in Psalm 8,
When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have set in place—what are mortals that you should think of us, mere humans that you should care for us? (Psalm 8:3-4, NLT).
Do you hear what he’s asking? God, who are we, that you should think of us?
2. ILL: It’s the same question that was once asked of Albert Einstein. When Einstein fled Nazi Germany, he came to America and bought an old two-story house within walking distance of Princeton University. There he entertained some of the most distinguished people of his day, and discussed with them issues as far ranging as physics to human rights.
But Einstein had another frequent visitor. She was not, in the world’s eyes, an important person like his other guests. She was a ten-year-old girl, named Emmy. Emmy heard that a very kind man who knew a lot about mathematics had moved into her neighborhood. Since she was having trouble with her fifth-grade arithmetic, she decided to visit the man down the block and see if he would help her with her problems. Einstein was very willing and explained everything to her so that she could understand it. He also told her she was welcome to come anytime she needed help.
A few weeks later, one of the neighbors told Emmy’s mother that Emmy was often seen entering the house of the world-famous physicist. Horrified, she told her daughter that Einstein was a very important man, whose time was very valuable, and he couldn’t be bothered with the problems of a little schoolgirl. And then she rushed over to Einstein’s house, and when Einstein answered the door, she started trying to blurt out an apology for her daughter’s intrusion – for being such a bother. But Einstein cut her off. He said, “She has not been bothering me! When a child finds such joy in learning, then it is my joy to help her learn! Please don’t stop Emmy from coming to me with her school problems. She is welcome in this house anytime.”
(Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2000, Devotional E-Mail, “It Is His Joy” (located at http://www.geocities.com/palmercog/joydevo.html) (last visited April 22, 2008)).
3. And that’s how it is with God! From it’s very opening pages, all the way to the end of the book, the Bible is a story about how God has pursued us with an unchanging and unquenchable and UNDESERVED love, because he wants us to come to his house! And we do that in this life through prayer! It’s an amazing privilege.
4. Trans: Let me share a second reason prayer is a privilege. It’s
B. Because of what prayer is, and what it does. Now, there are many passages in the Bible that talk to us about prayer, but none more beautiful or expressive than Phil 4:6-7. It’s printed on your sermon notes page; look at it with me.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7, NLT).
True prayer, remember, is communing with God, and allowing him to work in our lives. And here the Apostle Paul helps us see that.
1. When Paul wrote, “Don’t worry about anything,” he wasn’t living the carefree life you might expect. No, he was under house arrest, awaiting trial with a possible outcome of severe torture followed by a death sentence for being a Christian leader. And Paul said, “Don’t worry about anything.”
a. What lets a person say that? The only person who can say that is one who has come to understand the tremendous privilege of prayer.
b. Look at what Paul says about it again. “Tell God what you need, and thank him for what he’s done. If you do this, you will experience” – WHAT DOES IT SAY? “God’s peace.”
2. Let me tell something right now. This is important. In fact, I’d like for you to write it in the blank on your outline. Prayer is not a get out of jail free card. I don’t know how to say this more plainly: Prayer is not a credit card that gives you everything you want; it’s not a greeting card that makes people like you and be nice to you; it’s not an insurance card that guarantees good health; and it’s not a get out of jail free card that solves all your problems. Now God may choose to do those things, or God may say, “No,” because it’s not in line with his will for your life at this point. But either way, that’s not what prayer really promises. Not really. We’ll talk more about this the final week of the series when we talk about dangerous prayers, but for now I want you to notice that Paul highlights the real promise of prayer. Write this in the blank on your outline: When we give God our problems, He gives us His peace. That’s the promise. He says “Tell God what you need.” It’s okay to ask to get out of jail, if that’s what you think you need. But the promise is for God’s peace.
3. ILL: You may have heard the story about how the great hymn, It is Well With My Soul was written. It was many years ago when Horatio Spafford, a businessman in Chicago, sent his wife and three daughters to Europe by ship while he remained in the States, intending to join them later. On their journey, there was a terrible storm and a shipwreck during which their three daughters drowned. Mrs. Spafford made it to safety and wired back saying, "All of our daughters have been lost. Only I have been saved."
He took the next vessel. As they came near the place where his daughters drowned, the skipper of the ship pointed to the place where the other ship had gone down. It was there on the deck of the ship he wrote these stirring words:
“When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”
Now, before anyone says, “Well, he was a preacher, that’s what he’s supposed to say,” let me point out – Spafford wasn’t a preacher, or a seminary professor, or a theologian, as if that really makes any difference. He was a businessman. He was an ordinary Christian, just like you if you’re a Christian here today. And he was experiencing perhaps the worst hurt a person can experience – the death of his children. Yet even at that time, he could feel God’s peace, which helped him through the experience.
4. That’s the promise Paul makes in Phil 4:6-7. Not that if you pray everything will go right for you. Not that if you pray you’ll become healthy and wealthy. Not that if you pray everyone will like you and you’ll have perfect relationships. If you pray, those things may happen, or they may not, depending on what God sees as best in the long run; but either way, you’ll receive His peace to help you through. And friends, in view of how hard life is sometimes, that’s a tremendous privilege.
C. Trans: Okay, so prayer is a privilege first, because of who God is and who we are; and, second, because of what prayer is and what prayer does. Now, let me share with you how we can better experience the privilege of prayer. First, let’s talk about a model for prayer. Look at Luke 11:1-4 with me:
“Once when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He said, ‘This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be honored. May your Kingdom come soon. Give us our food day by day. And forgive us our sins— just as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”” (Luke 11:1-4, NLT).
II. How To Better Experience The Privilege of Prayer
A. A Model For Prayer. Jesus said, first, praise God for who He is. That’s what it means when it says “May your name be honored.” Then second, pray for God’s will to be done: “May your Kingdom come soon.” And then third, pray for your needs—both the physical needs, like food, and the spiritual needs, like forgiveness and spiritual strength to resist temptation.
1. Now, some have used the letters ACTS as an acronym for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, and have utilized that as a model for prayer. That’s a very good model to use. Let me go through each of these letters with you. First,
a. Adoration: Praise for who God is.
b. Confession: Forgive me for what I’ve done.
c. Thanksgiving: Thank you, God, for all you do.
d. Supplication: Please help me God with these needs.
2. The point, though, is this: To fully utilize the privilege of prayer, you’ve got to make it more than just a “gimme” list. Prayer is praise as well as petition. As Paul said, “Tell God what you need, and thank Him for what He’s done.”
3. Trans: Oh, one more thing. And this one’s really important. In order to experience this privilege, you’ve got to make
B. A Commitment to Prayer. Look at Mark 1:35 with me:
“The next morning Jesus awoke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray.” (Mark 1:35, NLT).
1. Why did Jesus get up early to pray? Because he was committed to it, and because he was very busy, and Jesus knew the truth that we need to learn. Write this in the blank on your outline: If you don’t make time for prayer, you won’t pray. Don’t think that it will just happen. You’re too busy for that. It will get pushed aside by everything else.
2. That’s why Jesus got up early to pray. He knew that if he didn’t make time for it and commit time to it, prayer wouldn’t happen.
3. If you want to experience this privilege, you’ve got to make the commitment.
Conclusion
A. Challenge: Commitment to pray.
1. On your sermon notes page, there is a blank that says, "I will commit to pray ____ minutes a day during this series." I want to challenge you to fill that blank in, committing to pray at least 10 minutes a day. Some of you may want to commit to a longer time of prayer than that. But I am challenging everyone here to commit to at least that long.
2. Will you fill in the blank? And, right beneath it, please write WHEN you are going to do your praying. It does us no good to say we’ll pray 10 minutes a day if we don’t also say when we’ll do it. Remember, if we don’t make time to pray, we won’t pray.
B. Invitation.
