Prayer

Prayer makes a difference. Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, He can do whatever He wants to do. Yet somehow in His sovereignty He often limits Himself to acting in response to the prayers of His people. He is waiting for His people to pray. Our prayers move God’s heart to action. Our prayers carry great significance.

In the words of James, “You have not because you ask not.” James was not promising that everything we can dream up to pray for will be glowingly answered, but that we will definitely not see answers to prayers if we never pray them!

At the core of every relationship is communication. Prayer is how we communicate with the Lord. Through prayer we express adoration, praise, thanksgiving and confession. When we pray we also simply make personal requests and petitions on behalf of ourselves and others to the Lord. Prayer is not just a one way street, prayer also includes listening to the Lord, waiting on His response, receiving His direction and His heart on a matter. The essence of prayer is communion with God.

Jesus is our model for prayer. He often snuck away to get by Himself to be alone with His heavenly Father and pray. When He was baptized by John He prayed and heaven was opened. Before He selected the disciples He prayed so that He could discern God’s will. In John 17 He prayed for his little flock as they were about to be tested. He also prayed for those who would come after them, He prayed for you and me. In Gethsemane He prayed for Himself when he was “deeply grieved to the point of death” in anticipation of going to the cross. The last thing He prayed before he was crucified was for forgiveness for those who crucified Him. He now is seated at the right hand of God interceding for us. (Romans 8:34). Prayer is the warp and woof of the life of Christ. If Jesus needed to slip away to get alone with His heavenly Father for prayer how much more do we need to do so?

Over and over again in his epistles, Paul encourages his readers to pray: “pray for one another, pray without ceasing, pray on my behalf, pray in the Spirit, having done all, pray.” In Hebrews 13:18-19 the writer infers things will happen when we pray, “Pray for us; for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this (pray) that I may be restored to you the sooner.” Prayer changes things!

Humility is at the core of prayer. When we pray we are saying we can’t do this without You, Lord. We rely upon you. We lean on you. We need your intervention. We are looking to you. One of my favorite examples Jesus gives in the Gospels about prayer is the comparison of the prayers of the Pharisee with that of the tax-gatherer. Jesus gives us a heads up when He sets the context for this comparison, “He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.” The men He is about to describe were self-righteous and held others in contempt. They did not walk in humility.

Jesus goes on to compare the prayers of the two men. The Pharisee stands in the temple and prays to himself! Did you catch that? He prays to himself! Then he compares himself to the pitiful tax collector bragging to God about his own righteousness. The tax-collector does not take a prominent stance when he prays, he cannot even lift his eyes to heaven. He is aware of how far he falls short, he only asks for mercy.

Jesus sums up the comparison, “I tell you this man (the tax-collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Humbling ourselves before God is the essence of prayer.

There is one other attribute of prayer that Jesus focuses upon, persistence. Jesus told a parable that we ought to pray at all times and not to lose heart. The parable is about a woman who persists before a judge until she gains the protection she seeks. The key to this parable is persistence in prayer. Jesus also tells the story of someone who goes to his friends home at midnight asking to borrow bread. The homeowner does not want to be disturbed but “because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Jesus tells us to “ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” Luke 11:5-13. Persistence in prayer will be rewarded. Don’t get discouraged, don’t lose heart, if you don’t see your answer, persist.

As I write these words about the importance of prayer I confess I do not pray enough. I pray on the run a lot, I pray when I meet with my small group, I pray in my car, I pray at night when I wake up, I pray fervently when there is a pressing concern, but I realize that I don’t have a set time for focused prayer each day. I used to but somehow that has slipped away from my daily discipline. I want to change that. Do you have a set few moments for prayer every day? Want to join me?

This is what I propose. You ask the Lord for a time each day and a place where you can get alone and pray by yourself. When He shows you, you will have to do your part and make it happen. We have an enemy who will try to keep us from praying, so be determined. I suggest you get your phone and set the timer for maybe five minutes. Then close the door and show your respect by getting on your knees (who else do you get on our knees to talk with?) Pray out loud. This will help you stay focused. Pray in humility and with persistence. Praise God for who He is, thank God for what He has done, especially remembering recent answers to prayer. Ask Him to search out your heart and show you any place you are out of line with Him, wait on Him. Confess and repent. Then pray for your loved ones and pray for yourself. This is not selfish. Then pray for your community and country and world. Ask the Lord to lead you. Wait on Him. You will be surprised when the timer goes off! Repeat this tomorrow. And again the next day until this habit is formed.

Daily prayer is a discipline of the heart that draws us into the very presence of God. The Lord isn’t looking for beautiful long prayers, He just wants our hearts. He wants to carry our burdens. He wants to show Himself strong in our lives. He is honored when we simply turn in our hearts and humbly look to Him for His answers, His plan. Our lame, weak prayers move the heart of our almighty God. Let’s make sure we do our part and pray!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Help us to carve out the time each day for prayer. Lead our prayers. Meet us in our prayers. Change us through our prayers. May you be glorified as we pray.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen