Psalm 118:24 – This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Once more the awe of the Lord and His creation have filled me with joy as I have traveled across God’s beautiful places of Pennsylvania and Ohio, US, these past weeks.
Look around you, even as you pause from this high-speed journey through places not our own. What do you see?
It is the glory of Almighty God in all places and times – a painting of the Master of life, the beauty of His holiness.
I have a prayer list. If you are reading this, you probably do too.
Some of the names on mine: Lissette, Rachel, David, Ashley, Dad, Ed, Ken, Jenny, Tom, Robin, Marianna.
Please pray for these loved ones of my family.
I guess that all Christians pray for our families at times (as we ought). It’s in our own best interests, in addition to theirs. IF God blesses a family member and does not curse them, our prayer is answered (maybe not in our way, but in His).
But the truth is that most people, probably even most christians, do NOT take any time to pray for others (except out of circumstances of desperation).
Why not?
Why don’t we at least take time to pray for our family (let alone our boss or workers or neighbors or friends or our President and Congress or the hungry or homeless or one in prison or any others…)?
I suspect that most of us are too caught-up in our ‘selves.’
So it is with some hesitation that I even ask you to pray also for me.
Let’s talk about prayer briefly from the Bible. (For an in-depth study of prayer would take more time than we are willing.)
In fact: PLEASE take just a moment right NOW to STOP reading, close out the world, close your eyes, bow your head & PRAY.
amen.
What does it mean to pray?
To begin, perhaps you would like to look at a few examples: first, from the Hebrew word for pray:
God speaking to Abimelech in a dream here: Genesis 20:7 Now then, return the man’s wife,for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live.
Here is a reason to NOT complain about God: Numbers 11: And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
The story of 1 Samuel 1 shows the prayer of Hannah, the answer of the Lord and the sacrifice of thanksgiving from Hannah.
Many of the Psalms of David speak not only directly to our hearts, but also provide examples of prayer to God:
Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Do we do that?
Do we pray to the Lord in the morning? (Did you this morning?)
Do we even offer a small sacrifice of our mortal time?
We also know that the Priests and Prophets prayed to God on behalf of their people. In fact, we probably recall at least one Prophet also praying to God for himself.
Jonah 2: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
In ALL prayer we should see something in common:
Prayer implies conversation with God
A faithful man or woman may assume an answer from God our Father.
In the New Testament, Jesus and later the Apostles teach us to pray.
A brief look at the Greek word for pray:
Jesus sums it up perfectly in Matthew 6 (some of which we memorize & other of His instructions about prayer we sometime forget).
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray… that they may be seen by others…
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases… for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 … for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven…
(Though your memorized words are good, Jesus was showing us HOW to ask. Pay attention to the structure of His Prayer and you will learn truly how to pray.)
Peter and the Apostles prayed before decisions [Acts 1:24], prayed before healings [Acts 6:6], prayed and fasted, prayed and sang hymns.
One of our best instructions about prayer from Paul, Silas, and Timothy:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Most encouraging to the churches of the first century – to all of the believers – the Letters from the Apostles and leaders of the Church are filled with references of personal prayers for individuals and prayers of thanksgiving for the church corporately as a body of believers for whom they prayed.
Colossians 1: (from Paul and Timothy)
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard ofyour faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints…
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…
(I pray that ALL of our church leaders pray for us like that and also encourage us by such public praise in prayer as did Paul and Timothy.)
Do our church leaders call us to pray for each other and pray also for them?
Colossians 4:3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains.
1 Thessalonians 5:25 Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us.Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.
Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do.
Since I do not address you as a church, but individually as my brother or sister in our Lord Christ Jesus, I do ask that you will pray also for me.
I would ask that you pray for our Christian Social Witness and for the sharing of the Gospel through this place for your encouragement.
I will pray for you, as will others with whom you Share your COMMENTS.
Please ASK for prayer in our comments. May we add you to our prayers?
May our Lord, Christ Jesus bless you and keep you for His own until we pray with each other once again. amen.
A heart cries out
In sad futility:
Is anyone out there?
Does anyone care?
Yes, says the Lord
I hear your prayer.
Do you hear my answer?
Do you really care?
A soul sadly survives
Without being alive:
Why do I matter?
Why do my thoughts scatter?
I still love your soul.
I showed you the Way.
When will you believe,
That your heart will not deceive?
Is anyone out there?
Does anyone care?
I hear you in prayer.
I AM your joy and salvation.
Sad, isn’t it – the futility of one without God.
In fact, the Bible points to many of God’s faithful who have moments of doubt and hopelessness. Yet their answer always comes though faith and prayer.
The American Heritage Dictionary gives us a rather complete picture of futility by definition:
“Life without God is lifelessness.
We do not think to ask God for an answer. Time after time our heart cries out in hopelessness.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
Foremost in your understanding of your own heart is that your heart is your soul.
We are not really just the flesh and bones that others see or the mind and actions you show off to others. At the core of our being, you are your Leb:
inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding;
Yes, there is much more to us than just our nature of the flesh.
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The scriptures about the heart are also most revealing. The list is long and includes some of what Jesus had to say about our hearts.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:38 ESV
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So why are faith and prayer the answer?
Did you hear a conversation in the opening poem?
One caught-up in his or her own heart will have neither humility nor faith to hear God’s answer:
requiring trust in Jesus as Lord.
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
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Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself on the Cross because of God’s love for you said:
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. – Matthew 21:22 ESV
Does your heart cry out?
You with ears to hear, listen to God in your conversation of prayer.
Jesus IS Lord.