I’ve preached on prayer many times and I’ve tried to do it in such a way that you will be able to easily remember how to pray and to be motivated to pray.
Yet I don’t think we are taking full advantage of this most powerful and useful resource we have as Christians. So, I am beginning a four week series for the month of April on Prayer called, ”Prayer Can Change Your Life,” which I have adapted from a Rick Warren series on prayer by this same title. I need this study on prayer because I need a more effective prayer life and because I want to be part of a Praying Church that is fired up and on mission for God.
Non-praying or ineffectively-praying Christians are the Jed Clampetts of Christianity. They’re like the Beverley Hillbilly’s who lived in poverty in hills of Arkansas barely eking out an existence while the whole time they were sitting on top of a huge oil reserve. ”Then one day while (Jed was) shooting at some food up thru the ground came a bubbl’n crude, Oil that is, Black Gold, Texas Tea. Well the first thing you know ole Jed’s a millionaire, Kin folk said, ‘Jed, move away from there; Californy’s the place you ought to be,’ so they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly, Hills that is; swimmin pools, movie stars!”
Imagine if ole Jed said, “Nah. I like being poor. I think I’ll just stay here and do the best I can with what I’ve got! Well, that’s just down right silly, now ain’t it? But that is exactly what we are doing when we don’t take advantage of the huge reserves of God that we are sitting on top of as Jesus’ disciples. How do we access these reserves? Through Prayer!
When I think of oil wells I picture the Texas oil pumps that are scattered all over the state. They look like ducks bobbing for a sip of water. The lesson I get from this picture regarding prayer is that the riches that God has for us need to be pumped up into our lives continually through prayer.
But, before we will be motivated to pray, we must realize our need for prayer. We need to realize that we could be living much more effective, exciting and richer lives than we are now. Many Christians don’t know the awesome resource they have in Prayer; and many churches are ineffective for Jesus for same reason. “How effective is your experience compared to Jesus’ in serving God?”
In our passage for today (Luke 11:1) the disciples saw Jesus praying (as was His habit), and they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Why did they ask to be taught how to pray? Could it be that they put two-and-two together? After all, they had seen him do many miracles (feeding the 5000; walking on the water; calming the raging sea). They had heard Him teach incredible truths about the Kingdom of Heaven, and had even seen Him raise Jairus’ dead daughter. Comparing their ministry activity, doing the best they could with what they had, with His, they thought, “Wow! I want to do what He’s doing and I want to know what He knows, and it seems He spends a lot of time in prayer before doing these things. Hmm! I wonder if there might be a connection here? Let’s ask Him!”
How effective is our ministry compared with Jesus’? Do we sense our need to learn how to pray the way our Master prayed? Our Typical Prayers are (Source; R.W.): (1) Genie in the Bottle Prayers: “Our wish is God’s command.” “God, I want this and that and these and those!” (2) Fire Extinguisher Prayers: Use only in the case of emergencies. Or Parachute Prayers: (Robert Leroe, Sermon Central) “We’re glad the parachute is there but we hope we’ll never have to use it.” Rick tells the story of a deacon who came up to his pastor one day. The Pastor said, “I guess all we can do is pray,” and the deacon said, ”Has it come to that?” When all else fails and we’re in big trouble, we finally pray.
There is also the (3) Sales Pitch Prayers: trying to sell God on what is best to give us. These are like the requests our children make at bedtime, ”Just one more TV show; May I have a glass of water. I’ll be good if you will let me go to Joey’s birthday party.” We negotiate with God in an effort to get what we want !
Then there are the (4) Religious Duty Prayers: “I have to pray. I ought to pray! It’s my duty!” These are boring, routine, empty, meaningless, guilt-trip prayers. I call them Gold Rush Prayers. Back in the days of the Gold Rush, there were wagon trains headed west by the thousands. There were so many that the streets had deep ruts in them. A sign at the west end of a main street said, “Be careful which rut you choose because you’ll be in it all the way to California.” When we pray only because we feel that we have to pray, we are in a rut.
No wonder we wonder why our prayers don’t seem to help. I don’t want to waste my time praying like this. I want to be an effective prayer. I want to learn how to pray like Jesus prayed because I want the results Jesus got to His prayers. And God wants this for us too. So, let’s begin our ”Prayer Can Change Your Life” series with this introductory message about the Four Purposes of Prayer. In an effort to make this useful and to help us remember it I’ve come up with the acronym: P.R.A.Y. Also, I’ve adapted these points from Rick Warren’s series on prayer and his outline for this message, so I’ll give you his titles as well.
A. First of All, We are POWERLESS Without Prayer
So, the First Purpose of Prayer is to help us to realize our DEPENDENCE on God.
Mark 9:1ff records Jesus’ Transfiguration on a high mountain. He took Peter, James and John with Him but He left the others behind. When He came down from the mountain He found them surrounded by a large crowd arguing with them. In verses 15 and following we read, “15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. 16 “What are you arguing with them about?" he asked. 17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not." They knew Jesus had the power they needed, but they were finding out that the disciple didn’t. I wonder what our community is finding out about us. Is Jesus’ power to meet their needs flowing through us to them?
After casting out the demon the text says, “28 His disciples asked him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ 29 He replied, ‘This kind can come out only by prayer.’" We can exercise our spiritual gifts, but without prayer-power, we can’t get any results either!
Jesus tells us that this truth even applied to Him. In John 5:19 He says, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” And in John15:5 He tells us we are powerless too on our own, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus’ example is clear, in order to know and to do His Father’s will, He had to depend upon His Father in Prayer. And, if He needed to pray, if He was dependent upon God through Prayer, we certainly are as well! We are totally dependent on God and when we pray we admit our dependence and we access His Power. We are Powerless without Him!
Do you need another example? How about John 11? The text says, “1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick." 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it." Through prayer Jesus knew the time had come to reveal to everyone that He had the power over life and death. When He arrived in Bethany He demonstrated this power: 40 “Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out.“ We are Powerless without prayer, but by praying we admit our dependence on God; we say, “I need you! I can’t handle this situation without You; but You can handle it. So, Father, I’m depending on you.” Do you need strength to resist temptation? Do you need faith in order to serve God as He is calling you to serve Him? Do you need Him to help you to confidently share your witness to your lost friends? Then pray!
B. Our RELATIONSHIPS With God Require Prayer.
The Second Purpose of prayer is Effective COMMUNICATION with God.
Most sports fans know name of Reggie White, the great defensive end for the Green Bay Packers who recently went to be with the Lord. What some don’t know is that he was also an ordained minister. Before signing a $17 million deal with the Packers, White said publicly that he would look to God to tell him where to play. Later a coach from Green Bay admitted he left a message on Reggie’s answering machine that said, ”Hey Reggie, This is God. Go to Green Bay.” (Source: Preaching Now)
Wouldn’t it be nice if God would leave us messages on our answering machines or send us letters or emails telling us what He wants us to do? That would make things a whole lot easier, wouldn’t it? God deserves more respect from us than that. That’s why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.” God doesn’t need us to pray to give us what we need. He calls us to pray because He knows that if He just gave us what we needed without praying, we would never develop deep relationships with Him.
God wants an intimate relationship with each one of us. And, in order to have intimacy in a relationship, Communication is Essential! “The three most important words for a successful relationship are Communication, Communication, and Communication.” (Empowering Couples) In order to know someone, you must talk to the person. We can’t get to know a person, how they think, and what they like and dislike, without communicating with them.
I think back to the days of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. We had an uneasy peace due to the strange reality we lived with called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). Since we could blow one another to bits at any moment, we avoided doing so. To make sure we didn’t accidentally have a problem we had Summits. In order to keep from killing each other, we had to communicate. In order to know God’s will and ways, we have to communicate with Him. In order to relate with Him, we must listen to Him. Rick makes the good point that “It’s hard to believe that God is interested in us; that He cares about us!” It is hard to believe that God cares whether I can make my car payments; but He does!
As a father myself, I can relate to this. When my daughter calls home I want to listen to her; to support her, and to help her even when I can’t afford to do very much! I heard Haddon Robinson tell as story one time about how he used to play a game with his daughters. He would hide pennies in his pockets and they would jump up in his lap and search for them and giggle and he’d tickle them. When they found the pennies they thought they had hit the jackpot. To them the pennies were a treasure, but to him the pennies were nothing! What he cared about was just being with them. God can easily afford my car payment and He will help me with it if needed. But what He really cares about is just being with me. He enjoys being with you too. Do you have anything you need His help with? He wants to listen to you and support you too.
Do you enjoy being with Him? Harvie Neatherlin (Ten Principles Of Prayer) tells the story about an empty chair. A man’s daughter asked the pastor to come and pray with her father one day. When he arrived, he found the man lying in bed with an empty chair beside his bed. The pastor assumed the fellow had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me," he said. "No, who are you? I’m the new pastor," he replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up. Oh yeah, the chair," said the man. "Would you mind closing the door? I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it always went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, "Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here’s what I suggest.
Place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus in the chair. It’s not spooky because he promised, "I’ll be with you always." Then just speak to him and listen in the same way you’re doing with me right now." "So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm." The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged him to continue praying. Two nights later the daughter called to say that her daddy had died that afternoon. "Did he seem to die in peace?" he asked. "Yes, when I left the house he called me over to his bedside, told me one of his corny jokes, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange, apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed." Joe became intimate with God through prayer, so he wanted to pray. We can have this same intimacy too.
C. God wants us to APPEAL to Him in Prayer
The Third Purpose of prayer is to Make Our Requests KNOWN to God.
In John 15:7 Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” This is a Blank Check drawn on the bank of Heaven and it is signed by Jesus Himself. God wants us to ask Him for what we want and need from Him. The Bible says in Philippians 4:6, “Make your requests known to God.” And it says in John 16:24, “Ask and you will receive.” In Luke 11:9 Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” And James 4:2, ”You do not have because you do not ask.” God wants us to ask.
God has treasures He wants to pour out upon us; but they remain hidden from us simply because we won’t ask for them. Rick tells the story of a guy who died and went to heaven. All over heaven were these warehouses. Inside there were these tremendous gifts, fantastic things, spiritual situations, homes, jobs, happy families, all kinds of neat gifts. The guy said, "Lord, what are all these gifts?" Jesus said, "There is a tag on every one of these gifts. And the tag says the same thing." So he goes over to look and reads, "Never asked for." What are you lacking today? Will you take the blank check from your bulletin today and fill it out right now? What do you want from God today? What do you need from Him? What treasure of His would you just like to have? Ask God for it today. He wants you to ask so He can supply it.
Some of you might be thinking, “I’ve asked before and I didn’t get what I asked for.” Well, first of all, nobody wants to be presumed upon or taken for granted. Imagine if a friend just asked for stuff all the time but didn’t ever want to spend any time with you. They are just being a selfish brat! James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” Be sure that your motives are right.
Also, God does want us to rely upon Him and to come to Him knowing that He wants to help us. In Luke 11:5-8 Jesus tells a parable to illustrate this point. It was because of the man’s boldness (not arrogance) that he gave him what he was looking for. God wants us to come before Him in bold faith because we know He is a good and generous Father!
I want my daughter to know that she can always approach me for help because she knows I love her. It would be sad if she thought otherwise. God loves to bless us and He wants us to approach Him knowing this. “Delight yourself in the LORD,” the Bible says, “and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Ps.37:4
God answers every prayer, but only in a way that will be a blessing to us. In his book, ”Too Busy Not To Pray,” Bill Hybels explains what’s going on. He says, "If the request is wrong, God says, ’No.’ If the timing is wrong, God says, ’Slow.’ If you are wrong, God says, ’Grow.’ But if the request is right, the timing is right, and you are right, God says, ’Go!’ God can’t make these corrections to our requests until we make the selfish or wrong requests in the first place. God can’t make the changes He wants to make in us until we come to Him. We are often in need of changes that we can only become aware of when we come to God for something else. Prayer is how God makes these necessary changes.
D. Y”ALL Work Together in Prayer
The Fourth Purpose of Prayer is to COOPERATE with God.
Jesus wants us to pray together, “Our Father. . .” This is our prayer to be prayed with one another. In teaching us how to pray He says to pray with one another for as we do we will care more for and about one another, which will unite us.
In our 201 Class, Darrell talked about the Habit of Fellowship saying that the church is like a bundle of twigs. Individual twigs are easily snapped, but when bound together they’re much stronger. That is a great picture of what happens when we pray together. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Eccl. 4:2) How many of our members are hurting alone. Shouldn’t we come together and pray together?
I want to be a part of a Praying church; one that is POWERFUL because its depending upon God; One that has an intimate RELATIONSHIP with God because it stays in communication with Him; one that APPEALS to God in prayer making its requests known to Him; and one where EVERYONE is cooperating with God and where God is doing some great things.
But, to have a church like this we must have the faith to pray like Jesus has taught us to pray. (From, Principles Of Prayer, by H. Neatherlin), A small Oklahoma town had 2 churches and 1 distillery. Members of churches complained that distillery was giving the community a bad image. To make matters worse the owner of the distillery was an out spoken atheist. The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut it down. So finally they decided to hold a joint Saturday night prayer meeting where they asked God to intervene and settle the matter. That night there was a horrible thunderstorm raging and to the delight of the church members lightening hit old brewery and it burned to ground. The next morning sermons were preached in both churches on power of prayer. But the insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner that they were not going to pay for the damages because the fire was an act of God and that was policy exclusion.
So, he sued both churches claiming that they had conspired with God to destroy his business. But the churches denied that they had anything to do with the cause of the fire. The presiding judge opened the trial with theses words: “I find one thing in this cause most perplexing. We have a situation here where the plaintiff, an atheist is professing his belief in the power of prayer, and the defendants all faithful church members are denying the very same power.”
Will we be a praying church? One that is dedicated to praying with power for God’s will? Let’s start now.
(Sources: Rick Warren Sermon Series, Prayer Can Change Your Life – Sermon #1, The Four Purposes of Prayer; The NIV Application Commentary on Luke; Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels, PRAYING LIKE JESUS/Ten Principles Of Prayer by Harvie Neatherlin, Luke 11:1-11:13; Introductory message on Lord’s Prayer by Robert Leroe - Lord’s Prayer for His Disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray."; Preaching Now Internet Newsletter; Empowering Couples by David Olson)
