Prayer

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:13-16).

Good communication is essential to every relationship. Imagine trying to run a successful business if you and your fellow workers only spoke with the boss and each other once a week for an hour. How long would your marriage survive, if the only times you spoke to your spouse were to ask them to fix a leaky pipe or bring you some medicine?

Without quality of communication, relationships wither and die. This is just as true of our relationship with God as any other relationship. God has spoken through signs and visions, angels and prophets; God has spoken through His Son Jesus Christ, and through men guided by the Holy Spirit who have written the Lord’s words in the Bible. But we, being limited by our earthly existence, have only one way to reply, only one way to carry on our side of the conversation—that one way is prayer.

Prayer is essential to having a healthy relationship with God. When you were little, remember how frustrating it was when you wanted to talk with your parents, but they were too busy? When you were dating, remember how worried you felt when days went by and the object of your affection didn’t return your calls? Perhaps even today, you go to ask your spouse something, and only get a grunt for a reply—how does that make you feel?

When we ignore praying, we are ignoring our relationship with God. When we ignore God, we are breaking the First Commandment, in which the Lord tells us that He is to be the most important part of our lives. It is just bad behavior on our part to ignore the Lord, when you consider everything that He has done for us. The Father has given each of us life and blessed our lives with love. Jesus willingly underwent something so terrible that even the Son of God Himself sweated blood just thinking about it—He suffered God’s anger at our sins and died, so that we can be spared God’s punishment for being so self-absorbed. The Holy Spirit has worked tirelessly to bring us into a saving relationship with Jesus through Baptism, God’s Word, and Holy Communion. Our Triune God has gone above and beyond in every way to show us how special we are to Him—how can we be so ungrateful as to ignore Him by failing to pray?

To help you with your prayer life, I am going to take several weeks this summer to look at prayer. We will consider the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of praying: Who do we pray to, What do we pray about, Where do we pray, When do we pray, Why do we pray, and How do we pray. The Lord’s Prayer will guide this series; the model prayer given by Jesus answers two of our questions about praying: Who do we pray to, and What do we pray about?

But before we start digging into the Lord’s Prayer, the Bible has other things to say to us about praying. Let's start with the question: Why do we pray? As I have already pointed out, prayer is our way of communicating with God; it keeps our relationship with Him from weakening and dying. Our Lord values His relationship with each and every one of us, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that He tells us to pray. In Psalm 50 God says, call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me. In Matthew chapter 7 Jesus said, Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. God encourages us to pray, promising that He will listen and respond.

How are we to pray? This question, I think, is what gives many Christians pause. How formal must prayer be, to be acceptable to God? On Sunday mornings, the prayers given in church sound quite formal; must all prayers be like that? Not at all. The Bible does show us many examples of formal prayer; this is because our God is the Lord of the Universe, King of the hosts of heaven. Because of this, He is due even more respect than we would show when meeting the President of the United States or the king of a foreign nation. We consider each Christian church to be a throne room for the Almighty, so it is natural that when we approach the King of Glory in one of His earthly throne rooms, we would speak very formally.

But the Bible illustrates another way to speak to God. Jesus is the Son of God dressed in a human body. Our Lord told Philip, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). Anyone who spoke to Jesus was speaking to God. How did Jesus’ followers speak to Him? Here are a few examples. Luke chapter 8: As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!" Mark chapter 13: As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" Matthew chapter 8: A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"

When we look at the people who believed in Jesus, we see that they spoke to Him with respect, but not with the kind of formality that you hear in a Sunday morning prayer. These conversations took place in a boat, on a city street, and along a country lane, not in a throne room. In the same way, when you are praying to the Lord outside of church, you needn’t worry about speaking in a formal way; what matters is that you speak to God with respect. Remember that Jesus told His followers, I have called you friends (John 15:15). Speak to the Lord in prayer as you would with the friend whom you love and respect above all others.

God has a few other things to say to us about how we should pray. For one thing, we are to pray with confidence, not doubt; In James chapter one we are told: when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can't make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do. We are to be confident when we pray because God has promised, I will hear, for I am compassionate (Exodus 22:27).

We are also to pray persistently, not giving up just because we don’t get an immediate answer. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus gave the following illustration to make this point: Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would say to him, `A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.' He would call out from his bedroom, `Don't bother me. The door is locked for the night, and we are all in bed. I can't help you this time.' But I tell you this--though he won't do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you what you want because of your persistence. And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for.

Our next question is, When should we pray? In 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 Paul says simply, pray continually. But how do you "pray continually"? When you hear these words, do you think of a monk living in monastery, head bowed and hands clasped in prayer as he kneels for hours in a small, austere room? Do you say to yourself, "I could never be in prayer all day"?

I’d like you to think of continual prayer in a different way. Imagine living with a loved one—a parent or sibling or spouse. After living together for a long time, the two of you probably don’t talk constantly. In fact, you might only have a lengthy conversation once a day over dinner. But you do communicate during the rest of the day, even though these exchanges are often brief. You might request an opinion on which shirt to wear with your slacks. You might ask for help with a stubborn jar lid. You might share a few words of disgust over a disturbing story you hear on the news. Throughout the day, you are always aware that your loved one is near, and you take comfort from being able to exchange a quick word without having to dial a number or put a stamp on an envelope.

Prayer can be like that. In fact, prayer should be like that! God is with us constantly; He is present every moment of our day. What would your prayer life be like if you were always aware that He is in the room with you? I’d imagine that you would have at least one lengthy conversation with Him each day, as you reflect on the joys and sorrows that fill your heart; this conversation might take place as you are digesting a meal, or when you are waking up to face a new day, or as you are settling into bed and are trying to put into perspective the events of the day just passed. But you would also find yourself chatting with the Lord as the events of the day unfold. In the morning you might say "Heavenly Father, the sky is so beautiful this morning—thank you for letting me see it!" When an emergency vehicle speeds by with its lights flashing, you might pray "Lord, please give them success." When you make a mistake that causes hurt to someone, you could say "Jesus, please give me the courage to say I’m sorry, and please, please help them to forgive me too." When the news tells of a missing child, you could ask "God, bring her home safely". When someone who seems upset wants to talk to you, you can silently pray "Spirit, give me wisdom!" And when you are feeling lonely, you can ask "Master, just hold me, please." When you say things like this throughout the day, you are "praying continually."

Which leads us to today’s final question, Where should we pray? The answer should be obvious—everywhere! If we are praying constantly, then we are praying at home and in the car, at the office and in the field, at the lake and in the classroom—because everyplace we go, we need God’s love and help. Every place we go, we commit sins and need forgiveness; no matter where we are, God is there blessing us with His goodness, a goodness that should result in our thanks of appreciation.

Jesus tells us to pray both publicly and privately. He taught us to pray "Our Father", words obviously intended for us to pray together as a group. But Jesus also gave these instructions: When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you (Matthew 6:5-6). The purpose of prayer is not to impress others with how holy we think we are; the purpose of prayer is to focus on our relationship with the Lord. Nor are we to pray the same things mindlessly over and over again; Jesus tells us that when we pray, we should be direct and to the point: When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, because your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! (Matthew 6:7-8) If we are focused on the Lord and are sharing the deepest concerns of our hearts, there will be many times when praying with others is not comfortable or appropriate; this is why your prayer life at home is so very important.

How important is prayer? Luke chapter 5 tells us, Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. If the Son of God Himself frequently devoted time to prayer, how can we feel a lesser need? May the Holy Spirit move you to pray continually, and may your prayers be pleasing to His ears.