Category Archives: Prayer

Feb 9 2013

pondering prayer: it’s about your trajectory, not your track record

 

NOTE: Following is a copy of the discussion guide that will be used in MoSt Church’s LIFE groups tomorrow (Feb. 10). This guide will enable your follow-up of my sermon tomorrow morning. This sermon is part two in the Pondering Prayer series and is entitled It’s About Your Trajectory, Not Your Track Record. Look under the category title “LIFE group guides” and you’ll find an archive of previous discussion guides. All Scripture texts reproduced below are from the CEB.

Aim

To explore some of the most commonly misunderstood or mystifying aspects of prayer.

Word

• Jonah … cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant. When word of it reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, stripped himself of his robe, covered himself with mourning clothes, and sat in ashes. Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials: Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water! Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!” He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from his wrath, so that we might not perish. God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it. (Jonah 3.4-10)

• When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him … One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus … said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23.33a,42-43)

• We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. (John 9.31)

• There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius … He and his whole household were pious, Gentile God-worshippers. He gave generously to those in need among the Jewish people and prayed to God constantly. One day … he clearly saw an angel from God in a vision. The angel came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Startled, he … replied, “What is it, Lord?” The angel said, “Your prayers and your compassionate acts are like a memorial offering to God.” (Acts 10.1-4)

Open

Icebreaker questions are meant to help us all start talking. Choose one of the following to discuss as a group.

1. Which is better, your hearing or your listening? Explain.

2. I refuse to listen to anyone who ________.

Dig

These questions are meant to help us grapple with Scripture related to this morning’s sermon. Choose some.

1. “The people of Nineveh” (Jonah 4) weren’t Jewish? How is it God responded to them?

2. We’re all sinners so, what kind of sinners does God not hear (John 9.31)?

3. List what those in the texts above did (or stopped doing) that fortified their prayers.

4. Having read all of the texts above, what one word comes to mind that best describes what all the people mentioned in those texts that God heard had in common?

Reflect

These questions facilitate our sharing what we sense God’s Spirit is doing with us thru his word. Choose some.

1. How does it make you feel to know God hears the prayers of all who seek him?

2. What can believers do to could encourage those yet to believe to talk to God?

3. What do believers do that discourages those yet to believe from talking to God?

4. Which would you rather God know you for: your track record or where you are now?

Feb 4 2013

sermon summation: pondering prayer (2)

 

These words ran like a recurring refrain through her e-mail to me:

“Don’t you believe if I’m sincere enough in my heart when I pray then God will give me what I pray for?”

He was pouring his heart out to me about his frustration with some things at church and he said:

“What we need to do is to pray harder!”

Skimming through a magazine my eyes fell on a page that contained these words:

“If you can’t get worked up in your prayers, then don’t expect God to work with them.”

Now in her golden years she had approached me privately to talk about how she had some troubles with her faith. She began by hanging her head and saying in a very quiet voice:

“I just don’t feel my prayers like I used to.”

As I was surfing through some channels on television I happened to hear a preacher emphatically say:

“Passionate prayers are the prayers that claim God’s promises for prayer!”

Question: What do those five statements have in common, aside from the fact they all deal with prayer?

Answer: They wrongly make our emotions the heart and soul of, and the determining factor in, prayer.

Now it’s true that prayer that’s real will often engage, and make mention of, our emotions. Read the Psalms and you’ll find those prayers are packed with every conceivable kind of emotion. After all, how can a person get real in talking with God and not do so with some feeling?

But when our emotions become the sun, and not merely a planet in the solar system of our prayers, we shouldn’t be at all surprised if our faith becomes a black hole.

While we are emotional beings, it’s our actions, not our feelings, that must take the wheel in our journey of faith.

Take Jesus for example. He prayed often to his Father and he prayed with intense emotion. But it wasn’t because he “prayed hard” that he got heard by God. No, there was something else at the center. Something else was the the fulcrum of his faith.

“During his days on earth, Christ offered prayers and requests with loud cries and tears as his sacrifices to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his godly devotion.” (Hebrews 5.7)

Did you notice where the emphasis was put? Jesus’ prayers were heard by the Father not because he expressed great feeling to God, but because he lived out great following after God. “He was heard because of his godly devotion.”

The Bible is absolutely full of this teaching and the Psalms are saturated with it. Take Psalm 4.3 as one small example:

“Know this: the Lord takes personal care of the faithful. The Lord will hear me when I cry out to him.”

The matter is so clear you’d have to work to miss the point: the psalmist is confident the Lord will hear his prayers because he’s confident that he has been “faithful” to God.

Need more examples? Read the following in the Psalms for a sampling of the many that are there: Psalm 17.1-3; 66.18-20; 141.1-5. And it’s the same when we turn to the New Testament.

“The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” (James 5.16b)

It does not say “the passionate person.” It does not say that “emotionally intense” person. It does not say “the person who gets worked up into a frenzy of feelings.”

What it does say is “the righteous person” is the person who finds their prayers are promised to be powerful and effective. That is, prayer that is heard by God comes from the person who has been made right by God and who has built their life around living out what they’ve heard from God.

We won’t find a more precise example of this teaching of Scripture than what we find in 1 Peter 3.7:

“Husbands, likewise, submit by living with your wife in ways that honor her … Honor her all the more, as she is also a coheir of the gracious care of life. Do this so that your prayers won’t be hindered.”

As back up for what he says here, Peter then goes on to quote (in verse 12) the words of Psalm 34.15-16:

“The Lord’s eyes are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord cannot tolerate those who do evil.”

Husbands, do you want your prayers to ring through heaven? Then treat your wife right here on earth for it’s your ways that give weight to your words in the hands of God.

Emotions are elusive creatures; feelings are funny animals. God knows they’re not an accurate gauge of our faith by and they never were intended to be the engine for our prayers. And God knows whether we’re walking after him with the light he has revealed to us already. What he’s after is not the energy of our emotions so much as the efforts we’re making to be his in every way. Keep that in mind the next time to ask him for more light in your life as you pray.

Jan 28 2013

sermon summation: pondering prayer (1)

 

If you’re a Christian and have been for any appreciable length of time, you’ve surely been the recipient of a comment such as one of the following:

  • “We need more folks pounding on the doors of heaven!”
  • “To be effective, we need as many people praying about this as we can get.”
  • “If God listens to the one, just think how he listens to the many.”
  • “Our goal is to have X number of people praying that such and such happens.”
  • “Please forward this prayer request to everyone in your address book.”

When I hear or see those sort of statements I cringe. I always come away thinking: “Are you thinking at all about what you’re saying?”

And why is that? Because when someone says something like that, knowingly or unwittingly, they’re implying that numbers mean a great deal to God. They’re acting as if God’s character and mind is very different from what is consistently portrayed in Scripture. And they’re conveying the belief that human desire and will has a far higher value in the ultimate scheme of things than it actually does.

  • As if God himself is a “democracy” and the “casting of our votes” ultimately determines his mind.
  • As if we can divine “the magic tipping point number” so as to get what we want to see to happen and thereby change the mind of the Divine.
  • As if God is some sort of pollster or politician who is swayed to do on the basis of how many people are screaming in his ear.

Nonsense.

Yes, it’s for sure that the number of people praying about something can have a tremendous effect between humans (in terms of their enthusiasm, determination, etc.), but that’s an altogether different matter. What I’m saying here is that the power that is found in prayer in terms of its effect with God has nothing whatsoever to do with the number of people praying.

Now what would lead me to believe so?

In a single word: Scripture.

“The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5.16b-18)

And though the number of Scriptures could be multiplied to prove the point, here it is: one person is plenty.

And all the more importantly is the fact that all prayer offered today, be it from the one or the many, funnels through the One who intercedes for us all: Jesus Christ.

“… he holds the office of priest permanently because he continues to serve forever. This is why he can completely save those who are approaching God through him, because he always lives to speak with God for them. It’s appropriate for us to have this kind of high priest: holy, innocent, incorrupt, separate from sinners, and raised high above the heavens.” (Hebrews 7.24-26)

The fact that a million sinners are all praying the same thing (and we all are “sinners”) doesn’t make prayer powerful to God. What does gives power to our prayers is not a what, but a who, namely the One who is “holy, innocent, incorrupt, separate from sinners” who “always lives to speak with God for” us. It’s not about the number of us here below, but about the name of him on high.

Have we forgotten that we commonly pray our prayers “in Jesus’ name,” often even saying so (though not necessarily) aloud. And what do we mean by saying such? When we pray “in Jesus’ name,” we’re affirming that it’s this One, Jesus, who makes the difference in all we’ve prayed. Only through him are our prayers conveyed and only by him can what we say come near the One who lives in unapproachable light.

Prayer. It’s about the One, not the many.

Jan 26 2013

pondering prayer: it’s about the one, not the many

 

NOTE: Following is a copy of the discussion guide that will be used in MoSt Church’s LIFE groups tomorrow (Jan. 27). This guide will enable your follow-up of my sermon tomorrow morning. This sermon is part one in the Pondering Prayer series and is entitled It’s About the One, Not the Many. Look under the category title “LIFE group guides” and you’ll find an archive of previous discussion guides. All Scripture texts reproduced below are from the CEB.

Aim

To explore some of the most commonly misunderstood or mystifying aspects of prayer.

Word

• Again, I assure you that if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, then my Father who is in heaven will do it for you. (Matthew 18.19)

• Simon, Simon, look! Satan has asserted the right to sift you all like wheat. However, I have prayed for you that your faith won’t fail. When you have returned, strengthen your brothers and sisters. (Luke 22.31-32)

• I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. … I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word. (John 17.9,20)

• Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17)

• … he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way. This was so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, in order to wipe away the sins of the people. He’s able to help those who are being tempted, since he himself experienced suffering when he was tempted. (Hebrews 2.17-18)

• … he holds the office of priest permanently because he continues to serve forever. This is why he can completely save those who are approaching God through him, because he always lives to speak with God for them. It’s appropriate for us to have this kind of high priest: holy, innocent, incorrupt, separate from sinners, and raised high above the heavens. (Hebrews 7.24-26)

• The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5.16b-18)

Open

Icebreaker questions are meant to help us all start talking. Choose one of the following to discuss as a group.

1. Would you say you tend to be mightily swayed as to what you believe or do on the basis of how many others think a certain way? Explain.

2. Tell us of time when just knowing others were praying for you meant much to you.

Dig

These questions are meant to help us grapple with Scripture related to this morning’s sermon. Choose some.

1. Read the context of Matthew 18.19. What topic is being discussed? How does this context affect your understanding of the promise made in vs.19?

2. Read Hebrews 2.17-18. How does Jesus “help those who are being tempted” today?

3. Read Hebrews 7.24-26. What specifically does Jesus do for us as our “high priest?”

Reflect

These questions facilitate our sharing what we sense God’s Spirit is doing with us thru his word. Choose some.

1. Why do we need to know fleshly Jesus prayed for others (Lk. 22.31-33; Jn. 17.9,20)?

2. What are some possible advantages of many people praying about the same matter?

3. Can you think of any potential problems coming from many praying about the same?

4. Read James 5.16-18. Can one person’s prayer make such a difference today?

5. “I am most keenly aware of Jesus intercession for me as my high priest when ______.”

6. “Knowing all I’m about funnels to, and through, Christ’s name (Col. 3.17) ______ me.”