Sermon Cloud

In 2001 I was diagnosed with throat cancer. And the surgeons told me if I had any chance to live that I would have to stop smoking and drinking. I started smoking when I was 12 and drinking when I was 14. And I knew I couldn’t stop. I knew in my heart that I couldn’t stop. After about a month of trying with all of my nerve endings a-jangle, and with every part of my body craving a cigarette and drink, I sat down on a curb one day near my house and I started to cry. I hadn’t cried like that  since I was a boy. I just watched my tears hit the pavement. And in the middle of that I heard a voice inside of me that said, “Please God, help me.” Mr. Eszterhas was shocked by his own prayer. "I couldn't believe I'd said it. I didn't know why I'd said it. I'd never said it before." And I couldn’t speak,  those words because I had a trach in my throat. But I kept hearing, “Please God, help me.” After about five minutes I got up off that curb and felt an overwhelming peace. My heart stopped pounding. My hands stopped twitching. I saw a "shimmering, dazzling, nearly blinding brightness that made me cover my eyes with my hands."

Prayer!
 
McCabe said he fell overboard while leaning over the side to see if lobster trap lines had fouled one of the stabilizers on his 65-foot boat. But a swell caused the boat to lurch, and McCabe said he somersaulted into the water, bashing his head. 
 As his body temperature fell and chances of rescue drifted away, he prayed and offered God a bargain.  He would lead a better life if he could live. Rather than his semi-retired life, living aboard his boat at Catalina Island, he would work as an advocate for child-abuse cases. 
 Floundering in the water, though, he needed more than words. 
 As his boat vanished from sight, he evaluated his options. The breakwater was too far away to swim.  Two vessels advanced but passed him by without notice.  McCabe realized his situation was dire. 
 Then, a party balloon drifted by. He stuffed it under his jacket, which gave him enough lift to keep his head out of water.  "I was euphoric." A buoy a half-mile away seemed to offer his best hope. He began breast-stroking. 
 But the balloon keeping him afloat lost most of its air. And he began reciting the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd."  He decided he was drowning. 
 Just then, a 3-foot piece of two-by-four drifted by, along with some other pieces of wood. McCabe stuffed these into his jacket. "They gave me almost as much buoyancy as the balloon,"
By this time, his un-captained boat had been identified, help was on the way.

Prayer!

Collins was hiking in the Cascade Mountains on a beautiful fall afternoon. He turned the corner and saw in front of him a frozen waterfall, a couple of hundred feet high.  This waterfall had three parts to it – seemingly symbolic of the three in one.  At that moment, he felt his resistance leave.  “It was a great sense of relief.  The next morning, in the dewy grass in the shadow of the Cascades, I fell on my knees and accepted this truth -- that God is God, that Christ is his son and that I am giving my life to that belief.”

Prayer!

Isn’t this the reason for Prayer?  To call out to God so that the life changing experience of the miraculous can invade our life and cause us to completely depend upon God’s intervention? 2xs

We sure read enough stories in the newspapers to make us conclude this!  We even read a lot of stories in the Bible that might help us to conclude this as well!

Prayer is a regular activity of the religious.  It happens to be one of the activities that most people are religious about –Almost all religions have as a facet of their expression – some kind of prayer-like activity.

Since we have just discussed the reality of the soul last week – and certainly removed all doubts that we do have souls – a longing of the human soul is to seek connection with something that is “spiritual.”

And after being at the Global Festival yesterday, in the world religions tent, it is very apparent that religious groups emphasize the importance of prayer.

But we are Bible readers here, and we are believers in Christ here.  We can find within the pages of Scripture and from the lips of Jesus – condemnation of certain kinds of prayers

Isaiah 1:15-17   ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  ¹⁶ Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  ¹⁷ learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

Matthew 6:5   ⁵ "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Matthew 6:5  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Did you catch that last bit there?  They have received their “reward.”  That indicates to me that there is some reward in praying --  but doing it for show is not the one promised by God!

Instead of saying, “What is the reason for prayer,” maybe we should be asking, “what is the reward of prayer?”

So again, speaking of the Christian perspective on prayer – and in keeping with the fact that Christians do have revived souls – the reason for prayer is similar to the reason for breathing – it is an automatic response to having been “born again!”  The soul finds its LIFE in communicating with the Lord.

If someone asks me for my sound bite answer as to why I pray, I say, “Because I’m constantly in conversations with my Lord!”

I’ve seen people have conversations with their infant babies, with their pets, and with traffic lights – this is all very natural, acceptable conversation.  But for the Christian, there is a primary and most important conversation, and that is with God the Father, through the Son, Jesus Christ, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It is the spiritual outflow of understanding our identity as children of God – to call out to “Abba Father” with every concern, confession, hope, and praise of the day!

And here is a key component in defining the word prayer – it essentially means, TO ASK!  It may be to ask for the miracle we need, but sometime it means to ask for God to do His will.  To ask God to reveal our sin.  To ask for God to be glorified, even if that means giving up something we would really like to ask for!

The reason why prayer is primarily a matter of asking is because it defines the relationship – we know that God is in control, and we are completely dependent upon Him.  It is a matter of humbly declaring our dependence while at the same time acknowledging God’s rule over everything.  A favorite preamble to prayer comes to us from a prayer from Daniel 9:18  For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

Here is the heart of prayer – knowing that we do not offer to God anything but our dependence upon His mercy.  In that dependence, we acknowledge His greatness, His rule, his provision, and his protection.  Because He does treat us so mercifully, our response is to confess His greatness and our brokenness and need.  With these kinds of prayers, the Bible teaches, God hears and responds.

It might not be with the miraculous healing, floating log, or frozen waterfall – but it will be with the assurance of knowing that God hears his children and that He has promised to do His good, pleasing, and perfect will for them!

I’d like us to turn in our Bibles to one of the longest prayers recorded in the Scriptures.  I’ll say it’s the longest, simply because it is recorded twice in two separate books, but turn to 1 Kings 8.  This is a very long public prayer of King Solomon as he dedicates the Temple he has just built to the Glory of God.  And in his Spirit inspired prayer – we will be able to gain some insight into the reasons for why we should pray…

1 Kings 8:22-23   ²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,  ²³ and said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,

GREAT OPENING!  1God’s Greatness, 2His faithfulness (promise keeping – able!) 3Loving (Knew this love as a servant!  We should be especially convinced of this as a child of God!)

1 Kings 8:28   ²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O LORD my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,

Listed here are different kinds of prayers – the plea, and the cry (or the petition and supplication).  The point is that there are different kinds of prayers with different intentions and emotions – this means that we are asked to pray to God not from a cookie cutter collection, but from the need of the moment (I’m not dissing on pre-written prayers, or prayer books, or even praying through the Scriptures, which our confession encourages us to do) what I am trying to point out is that the believer is not confined to set prayers (Lord’s Prayer) – but should express the need of the moment.

The desire that Solomon has at this moment is the desire to be heard by God.  This is a repeated theme in this prayer.  Another example is 1 Kings 8:52   ⁵² Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you.

This passage speaks of another reason to pray – whenever we need to.  God has promised to hear the prayers of his people who seek him – at any time, and there is never a wrong time to pray!

Another reason for prayer is for acknowledging the consequences of sin and seeking the forgiveness we ought for sin.  There will be times – I pray very few – that we will realize that we are praying to the Lord, seeking deliverance from our own selfish and sinful decisions.  It is typical of the prideful person to just ignore the mistakes we’ve made, and not want to take ownership for why we may be “reaping what we have sown.”  But it is HUGELY important to recall that God is compassionate, and he will forgive and restore our relationships…

1 Kings 8:33-34  ³³ "When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,  ³⁴ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.

Another reason for prayer is to be taught rightly.  Think of the lessons we could have spared ourselves from making mistakes by being taught properly what is right, true and lovely.  I think of our recent governmental woes that have just now manifested themselves, but only after years of making foolish and politically motivated decisions.  I had to laugh when I watched the government controllers back in 2004 – simple, boring accountants – report that a financial crisis was on the way à Only to have congressional representatives accuse THEM of being political.  NO, it’s just MATH. 

Congress was being given a lesson – but they weren’t being taught!  How true is that of us sometimes?  We must pray that we would be rightly taught! 1 Kings 8:36  ³⁶ … teach them the good way in which they should walk… And this should be our prayer as well, that we would be rightly taught so that we may, as the people of God, honor him and display His wisdom.

Another reason to pray is to acknowledge that God is in the heart changing business.  To sing, “change my heart O God,” is a fundamental prayer of the Christian who knows that our hearts are ever susceptible to hardness, unbelief, skepticism, intellectual pride, insincerity, and fear – these are all manifestations of a heart conditions that do not reflect humble dependence upon God’s will and leading.

1 Kings 8:38-39  ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,  ³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways ( for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

This is the reason for prayer, to honestly bear your heart to God and to avoid the show of “I’ve got my act all together, thank me, very much!”

I think it is fitting that the last sentence of this extended prayer focuses on the heart of what our prayers should focus on 1 Kings 8:61   ⁶¹ Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day."

What should be at the heart of our prayers, a heart that prays for what it should be – wholly true and devoted to walking and keeping God’s commands.

This reminds us of another reason for why we pray, we want to see God’s righteous rule displayed in our life, and in every area where the Lord rules.  And how does the Lord rule?  Not by public opinion, not by peer pressure, not by human logic; but by the perfect expression of His love and Character in his laws.  You will know where God rules when people embrace His law – not where they are embarrassed of it, but by where they seek to see it established.

1 Kings 8:58  ⁵⁸ that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers.

Now, I know as Christians in the church, we have a savior in Jesus Christ who has fulfilled the law, therefore, OT civil laws and ceremonial laws, and their direct application in our day, are not part of our landscape.  But there is a spirit of the law, if I can use that expression, which still has its place.  We still care about holiness, and purity, and righteousness, and obedience in our churches and in our lives.  Where do we learn about these concepts?  In the OT where God proscribed all kinds of laws to make the Hebrew people unique, distinct, and set apart.  And the spirit of the law is to take those OT laws and find their application in the only community in the world that really understands and desires true holiness and purity and righteousness and obedience, and that’s in the church! 

So when the OT says something about marriage, or restitution, or even stoning disobedient children, our prayer should be to properly apply God’s law in a NT context.  This means that marriage still has a NT definition, restitution has a NT definition, disobedient children has a NT solution – and it is not giving up on God’s righteous law – it means seeking to be God’s peculiar people who are defined by full expression of His love and character – and the first place we find that is in his law, and the greatest place we find that is in Jesus Christ and his love for the church.

Another reason to pray is for the success of evangelism.  Yes, even in the day of King Solomon, he knew that the people of Israel had a commission – to display the love and wonder of God to the world.  When the world witnesses this display, we are to pray that they will be moved to join us.

1 Kings 8: ⁴¹ "Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake  ⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house,  ⁴³ hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

Israel was to be evangelistic, inclusive, and to pray that it would happen.  I’ve been so pleased to see how welcoming you all are when people who look very different from you come in here and take part in our services.  Can you imagine an uncircumcised philistine coming to Jerusalem to pray to Jehovah God?  Solomon prayed that it would happen, and we had better pray that the most shocking people of our day might come in here and HEAR the truth of the gospel, and HEAR that it includes their heart being transformed.  The transformation happens in the soul first and may take some time working its way to the body and language and habits – but if they want to come to hear and pray and follow – we had better pray that we would be a witness to them of the love, character, and wonder of God!

1 Kings 8:60   ⁶⁰ that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.

A final reason to pray is to acknowledge and recall the faithfulness of God in saving his people.  Very often, the prayers of the Bible recount God’s former faithfulness to remind us of his present faithfulness.  In vss 51-53, Solomon references the great salvation moment of Israel from Egypt, he recognizes that Israel is unique among all the people, a chosen people, set apart to declare to the world that the Lord saves.  When we pray, we should speak of God’s mercy, faithfulness, love, compassion, and electing grace (especially when we get the chance to pray with a person who believes in works righteousness – that is the perfect time to pray, thanking God of his marvelous salvation being a gift of his son Jesus Christ!) 

But let me challenge people who may have a difficult time praying – let me help you prime the pump.  Begin your prayers with how thankful you are for God saving YOU!  People who start their prayers like this are hard to stop!  But it is a wonderful reason to pray – because in the moments that you announce to your own heart and soul the wonderful works of you God – all the rest of your prayers will begin to have perspective.  And you will realize that when you pray – perhaps the reason for prayer:

To call out to God so that the life changing experience of the miraculous can invade our life and cause us to completely depend upon God’s intervention!