Luke 11:1-13 (v.9-10)
Prayer - May the words of my mouth
SERMON – Jesus wants us to ask, seek and knock
A bible class teacher once asked his group this question:
"When you are in trouble, what do you usually do?"
He then gave them three options from which to choose:
1. Take care of it yourself;
2. Phone a friend and ask them what they would do;
3. Pray to God for help.
Only two in the class of 35 said 3. Pray to God.
Most of them chose 1. Try to work it out themselves;
only a handful said 2. Ask a friend to help.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says "Ask and it will be given to you,
for everyone who asks receives."
Too often, prayer is not our first response to trouble.
Our natural response is to try to work out a solution by ourselves,
using our own skills, our contacts, our money;
if that doesn't work, then we might turn to a close relative or friend,
and only if that doesn't help,
do we try praying.
God is our last resort!
We should try to bear in mind that Christianity is a practical religion;
it is not just about believing certain things,
Pie in the sky when you die;
it is also about us doing things for God,
And about God doing things for us,
so we should apply bible truths and doctrines to everyday life.
If we believe God loves us, we should go to Him more often.
If we believe He is Almighty, then we should take advantage of His power.
If we believe we are His children and the apple of His eye,
then we should not be afraid or embarrassed to ask Him to help.
If we believe we are beneficiaries of grace rather than subjects of the Law,
praying to God should be our first response, not our last resort.
Different religions have different ways of praying.
Jewish men must pray at 3 set times every day,
and they must face Jerusalem when they do,
and they should pray in Hebrew,
and they must wear a hat (Yarmelke or Kippah)
when they pray as a sign or reminder that God is above them,
and in public prayer they must wear a prayer shawl (Tallit)
to remind them of the tents their ancestors lived in during the Exodus journey.
Muslims must pray to Allah in Arabic,
they must pray at least five times every day,
and it must be in the direction of Mecca,
and they must stand, sit or kneel on a prayer mat,
and only after washing their hands, face and feet.
Sikh men must wear a turban when they pray
and Buddhists must use prayer beads or a prayer wheel when they pray.
Roman Catholics and high Anglicans usually cross themselves
at the beginning and end of their praying,
and Catholics usually use rosary beads when they pray to Mary.
But at least they all pray, why?
Because as it said in an old BT advert, “It’s good to talk”.
All religions believe it’s a good thing to talk to God,
to tell God they love Him, to confess their sins, to pray for others,
and to pray for themselves.
As Evangelical Christians we have no rules or regulations
about how or how often we pray,
and we believe that we can pray at any time, in any place, in any language,
and as many times or as few times as we want to.
The good thing about this is that prayer should be easy to do,
and therefore something we do a lot,
but the unfortunate thing is that by not having rules that order us to pray,
many of us do not pray very much,
or at least as much as we should.
Many churches have no prayer meetings,
and those that do usually experience small attendances.
Many sincere Christians claim that they don’t know how to pray,
but praying should be as easy and natural
as talking to someone who is physically present with us;
the only difference is that when we pray, we are communicating with God,
the Creator, the Almighty Lord,
But this doen't mean we have to use long flowery sentences;
In fact just the opposite,
For we are talking to our Dad, literally "Abba".
I wonder how Prince Charles addresses his mother,
Or how Prince William or Prince Harry address their father?
Prayer means that people like us, physical, mortal, and ordinary,
are able, are permitted, are invited,
to talk to God, who is spiritual, immortal, and extraordinary.
When we look at it this way, we should be falling over ourselves
to take advantage of this God-given opportunity.
If the Queen or Prime Minister invited us to go down, all expenses paid,
to Buckingham Palace or 10 Downing Street
and allowed us to pour out our hearts to them,
Tell them what we really think,
what we really want,
we would jump at the chance;
but when we have the opportunity to talk to God,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
so many of us don’t, or feel we can't or are not good enough to.
This is really weird when you think about it.
Under the Old Covenant praying to God was not possible for anyone
except priests, and the High Priest in particular.
Leviticus tells us that there was a curtain in the Temple
which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the building,
and the curtain was 4 inches thick.
When the Romans destroyed the temple, except for the western Wall in AD7O, following a Jewish revolt against Roman rule,
it is recorded by Josephus in his book “Antiquities”
that it took 2 oxen driven in opposite directions to tear the curtain,
but in Matthew 27:51 it is recorded that at the exact moment
when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.
Some take these words literally
But some Christian Commentaries believe it is metaphorical,
But no less important or significant.
The tearing of the curtain marked the end of the Old Covenant
Based on Law and Works,
And the start of the New Covenant based on Grace,
And it proclaimed to the world
that the barrier between God and man caused by sin had been destroyed,
and that God and man had been reconciled,
which is why we can talk to Him.
Prior to this, apart from when sacrifices were offered on altars by priests,
only the High Priest could talk to God on behalf of the people
and then only once every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement,
but now, through the blood of Jesus, we forgiven sinners,
we who have been adopted into God’s family
have access to the Throne of Grace
and we can talk to God as often and as easily
as we would talk to our human father.
In fact, bearing in mind what some human fathers are like, even easier,
and just as we do not need to use formal, “religious” language
to talk to our human fathers.
so we do not need to use long, fancy words when we talk to God,
in fact just the opposite.
God invites us to speak to Him from our hearts and emotions,
Not from our minds and intellects.
How we pray is up to us,
but Jesus said we should not show off
by making “a big song and dance about it”
for Jesus told his disciples not to use fancy or long words
like the hypocrites did,
but to talk to God honestly and simply,
relying on the grace of God, and the blood of Jesus,
to ensure our access to our Creator.
Not only has the curtain separating us from God been torn,
but St Paul, writing in Romans 8: 38 and 39 assures us that nothing in this life,
and nothing in the next, not angels, nor spirits,
nothing above us or beneath us,
will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.
So there is nothing to stop us from praying to God,
Asking for help or direction, or healing or forgiveness from God,
Or seeking His will or favour in some way,
except for our lack of inclination to do so,
our lack of desire to do so, or our lack of confidence in doing so.
While most Bible verses encourage us to pray,
it is true that there are some that might be an obstacle to praying.
One of these is James 5 verse 6:
“The effectual or fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (KJV)
or “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (NIV).
Some think this means only men can pray;
that is wrong, for obviously the prayers of women mean just as much to God
as the prayers of men.
Some think it is ONLY the prayers of a “righteous” person, a ‘real saint’,
which are answered;
that is also wrong for if that was the case,
as none of us are completely righteous and without sin,
it would mean God would never answer anyone’s prayers.
I’m sure that we all know the saying “God helps those who help themselves”.
This is probably why many people treat God as the God of last resort,
only going to Him when everything else has failed.
but I believe we should go to God first and ask Him to guide us
so we don’t waste our time and make even more mistakes.
Too often we only pray to God to help us when we are in trouble
or when other people have needs,
but we should also pray worship and thanksgiving prayers,
and is there anyone who never needs to pray a confession prayer?
Too often when people pray they do little more than recite a list
of needs and wants and while this is not “Bad” or “Wrong”,
surely God deserves to hear more than our ‘Wish Lists’.
God is Omnipotent and Omniscient,
so He knows everything and is everywhere.
He knows what is on our mind even before we articulate it
But He wants us to talk to Him and share our whole lives with Him,
the good things as well as the problems,
To demonstrate that we have faith, and trust Him,
and to thank Him and tell Him that we love and appreciate Him.
Being able to talk to God in prayer is a right we have as God’s children
just as our human children have the right to talk to us,
but too often we fail to avail ourselves of this gift.
It's as if we got something really valuable
For a birthday or Christmas present,
And put it away in a box.
God is accessible and available;
He loves us all and wants to hear from us:
His number is never “engaged”; His phone is never off the hook,
He is never too busy.
In closing I pray that we will all do what Jesus says we should do;
That we will ‘ask, seek, and knock’ on God’s door,
believing that we will receive from God
all that He knows will be good for us,
in Jesus’ name.
Amen and ...............................
