Why Pray?

Dear Heavenly Father, we do just give you thanks.

You are all we need and you continue to provide everything that we have and never could need.

We thank you so much for all that you have given us in Jesus Christ.

As we recall of his death and burial and resurrection this morning

and just the fact that you have done everything to save us and to reconcile us to you today, Father.

And Father, we just thank you now as we open your word.

We know that you desire to teach us and we just pray that as we look into your word

and hear these words, Father, that you would use them to change us

and use them to cause us to know you more.

And we just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

And you may be seated.

Those of you that don't know me, my name is Rick Aldridge.

I'm one of the elders here at Christ the King Church.

And it's my privilege today to bring you a message in our continuing series on prayer.

My message is not about a specific prayer from Scripture, but rather it's about prayer itself.

The elders have made prayer an emphasis for our church

and have stated a desire for us to be a praying church.

I believe it's something we can always improve in.

And I want to look at it today from that angle,

but from more of an individual level and how we can improve our own prayer lives.

So what do I mean when I say I want to pray better?

Sometimes the answer to that is I just want to pray more.

I want to spend more time in prayer, be more consistent with my prayer time.

But even sometimes when that's going good and my prayer life is consistent,

I still lament the fact that sometimes it just feels like work.

And if I let my guard down for a moment, I can just lapse right into prayerlessness.

My life is not always that of praying at all times or praying without ceasing,

as Paul exhorts to do.

And I want to be better about that.

Another answer to that question could be just the content of my prayers.

Sometimes there are way too much asking and too little communing with the Father.

Sometimes these requests, they come so naturally,

but not always so much the thanksgiving, the praise and the confession.

So I want my prayers to be full of those things as I commune with the Father in prayer.

Also, I spend time praying with others, with my family, with friends.

I pray aloud here at church.

And I want to be better at that.

I want to be a good example.

I want to be an example to the church body, to my children.

I want my prayers to encourage and bless those who are here,

and to cause myself and them to be drawn towards God, to be conformed to his will.

And I always want our prayers to be God-centered and not self-centered.

So I always want to improve in that area.

I don't want to be like the man who was on a ship and there was suddenly an emergency,

and he'd come across the captain of the ship and he asked,

is there anything I can do?

And the captain goes, no, me and the crew have it all under control.

Why don't you just pray?

And the man said, is it that bad?

He saw prayer as a last resort.

I don't want that to be me either.

When all else fails, try prayer.

That's not the kind of prayer life we want.

Sometimes we can be a little too dependent on ourselves and not dependent enough on God.

And then sometimes in moments of weak faith, we wonder if our prayer matters.

You guys ever feel like that?

You wonder, does prayer actually do anything?

Does prayer get results?

If you ask me to pray for you and I don't, are you worse off?

We may say yes to all these questions, but sometimes our actions betray what we really believe.

Here's that same dilemma put a little more theologically.

If God is sovereign, meaning that he sees all, knows all, and controls all,

which I believe the Bible clearly teaches,

is our prayer merely telling him what he already knows?

Sometimes that can feel a little less than satisfying.

Or put it another way, if God is sovereign and he decrees or ordains all that has ever been,

all that is or will come to pass, which I believe also the Bible teaches,

what difference do our prayers make in that?

We can come to the conclusion, why pray?

And so that's what I want to talk about today.

We have these faulty conclusions, if you will, that can lead us to avoid praying.

And this can affect our prayer lives at times and sometimes can leave us prayerless.

Or at best, prayer is just a joyless but dutiful time that we spend.

So how do we avoid these two errors?

How do we pray so that our prayer lives are joyful times of fellowship with our Creator?

Well, it isn't by feeling more guilty or ashamed.

I know that's not going to motivate any of us,

just by thinking about how far we fall short.

But save time.

We have compelling reasons that sometimes push us towards that.

And we have a couple obvious reasons that we should pray.

The first obvious reason is that God has commanded us to pray.

We see it numerous times in scriptures as he speaks through the prophets

to the nation of Israel, telling them to call on him, to seek him, to pray to him.

He wants to hear from his people.

This is obvious.

There's also much evidence in the New Testament as well,

in both the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

We've already looked at the model prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples,

pray in this way.

And we see it other times where he instructs them in prayer to be persistent,

to be praying at all times.

When he comes to the Garden of Gethsemane, he prays himself and he tells his disciples,

pray that you will not fall into temptation.

And we see Paul's letters as well.

I've already mentioned a couple.

In 1 Thessalonians 5.17, he tells the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing.

In the Philippians, he says,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.

With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

He charges the Colossians in Colossians 4.2,

Be devoted, devote yourselves to prayer.

And we looked in Ephesians in our recent series,

he says, With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit.

And with this in view, be on alert with all perseverance and petition

for all the saints, and pray on my behalf.

So Paul is very much encouraging us and telling us that we need to be praying.

And the point is clear.

God has commanded us to pray.

And our response to this command was, first and foremost, be that of obedience.

But that, and oftentimes, that might be all that compels us to pray.

And that can be a struggle.

Because we do see it more as just a duty.

We think, pray without ceasing, pray at all times.

Certainly, Paul doesn't mean all times.

And never stopping, he can't mean that.

And that's where we start to pile on the guilt on ourselves.

If that's the only thing compelling us to pray,

we're going to have those times where we just feel like this is too much.

This is too much work.

A second compelling reason that we should pray is also found there,

and that it's modeled for us by Jesus.

We see oftentimes, it speaks of Jesus slipping away into the wilderness to pray,

or going off to pray by himself.

He's a consistent example of fervent prayer,

and we see this in all the gospel accounts.

In the Gospel of Mark, it talks about Jesus,

early in the morning, while it was still dark,

he rose and went out into a lonely place to pray.

After feeding the 5,000, it says that Jesus went off by himself,

sent away the multitudes, and went to the mountains to pray by himself.

Luke tells about Jesus spending all night in prayer,

the night before he chose his disciples.

And we see this over and over in the Scriptures.

And ultimately, we've already mentioned,

Ben mentioned today,

is that we are supremely comforted by the fact that Jesus is still

interceding on our behalf before the Father continuously,

according to Hebrews 7.25.

So there's still a lot of mystery here.

We have God the Son praying to God the Father,

and it's hard to understand,

but we can't escape the fact that Jesus and his humanity

spent a lot of time praying,

and required this time,

and it should cause us who are called to be imitators of Christ,

to walk as he walked,

to realize our lives should be characterized by that fervent prayer as well.

We should be praying for ourselves and for those around us.

But again, this often feels like a burden.

If this is what Jesus needed to spend so much time in prayer,

how much more so do we?

And that can just, again, bear down on us.

It's like, man, we just fall so far short.

We've got more guilt, less joy, more shame.

So how do we begin to turn this duty into delight?

I'll steal one of John Piper's phrases.

I think what's going to move us in that direction

is understanding that our prayers do matter,

that they do accomplish something.

This is not just something we do because God told us to,

or that Jesus did it,

but we understand that our prayers actually accomplish something.

They are part of God's eternal plan.

And I'm going to spend the next several minutes

just kind of talking about that

and showing you why your prayers matter.

I told you before that the Bible clearly teaches

that God is sovereign,

that he controls and decrees all things that come to pass.

And you can feel the tension there.

How can it be that God decides and declares what will happen,

and at the same time,

how can our prayers have a significant effect

on the unfolding of his plan?

A.W. Pink, in his book,

The Sovereignty of God,

he explains the contradiction between these two truths

when he says,

the same God who has decreed the end

has also decreed that his end

shall be reached through his appointed means.

And one of these is prayer.

So what he's saying there

is that God, in his infinite wisdom,

he was pleased to ordain prayer

to be a means through which he accomplishes

his good pleasure

and in and through his creation.

Pink further writes here on this.

He says,

God has decreed that certain events

shall come to pass,

but he has also decreed that these events

shall come to pass through the means

he has appointed for their accomplishment.

God has elected certain ones to be saved,

but he has also decreed

that these ones shall be saved

through the preaching of the gospel.

The gospel, then, is one of those appointed means

for working out the eternal counsel of the Lord,

and prayer is another.

God has decreed the means

as well as the end

and among the means is prayer.

So we see this is part of the way

that God brings his plan about.

We see this relationship

between sovereignty,

his sovereignty in our prayers,

and we begin to see that

this is a big plan that God has.

It's very comprehensive.

It encompasses everything we do.

Richard Pratt

has a book called Pray With Your Eyes Open,

and he says this about God's plan.

God's plan is so comprehensive

that it not only includes

the final destinies of things,

but also includes

the secondary creaturely processes

that work together

to accomplish these ends.

For instance,

God does not simply ordain light

to shine on the earth each day.

He also employs the sun, moon,

the stars,

and countless other things

to accomplish that end.

God does not merely determine

that somebody will recover

from a disease.

He uses doctors and medicine

and other things

to accomplish this healing.

He says as a playwright of history,

God did not simply write an ending

for the book of time.

He wrote every word on every page

so that all events

lead to the grand finale.

So in other words,

these all things

which God works out

according to the counsel of his will,

which we saw in Ephesians 111,

this is how he works out

all these things.

It also includes the means

that he uses to bring

about his ultimate ends.

God uses his son

to bring the light to the earth.

He uses doctors

to restore people to health.

And he uses prayer

to bring about the many things

that he has purposed

in eternity past.

And they will come across,

they will come about

as he answers the prayers of people.

And we see this in our own lives.

We use different means

to accomplish things.

When we want to cross the street safely,

we use the crosswalk.

We look both ways

before doing so.

If we want to provide for our family,

we work hard

at our place of employment.

So we have these means

that God has given us.

When you desire your family members

to turn to Christ for salvation,

you seek opportunities

to proclaim the gospel for them.

In the same way,

when you desire something to happen,

you pray to God about it,

recognizing that prayer

is one of the ways

that God brings about

his purposes here on earth.

So we see that this is just part

of how God has ordained things.

And our prayers are actually

a part of that plan.

And we see this in several examples

in scripture.

If you have your Bibles,

you can turn to Genesis 20.

I'm not going to read through it,

but just point out

a couple of verses

that are in there.

This is a section of scripture

where Abraham,

in escaping a famine,

he's going to the country of Gerar,

and that is where King Abimelech lives.

And remember, he goes,

and he tells a lie

when he gets there.

He tells Abimelech

that Sarah is his sister

because he doesn't want Abimelech

to kill him

and take Sarah for himself.

So Abimelech, King Abimelech,

takes Sarah into his harem of wives.

And you see that in verse 2.

And in response,

God closes all the wombs

of the household of Abimelech

and threatens the king

with further judgment

if he does not restore Sarah

to Abraham.

So he reveals this to the king

and tells him that he has to

restore Sarah back to Abraham.

But he also tells the king

what his plan is.

And in verse 7,

it says,

Now then,

return the man's wife,

for he is a prophet,

so that he will pray for you

and you shall live.

But if you do not return her,

know that you shall surely die,

you and all who are yours.

So God tells him that his plan

is to have Abraham pray for Abimelech

so that he can be healed

and his household will be healed.

And we see that that's how God

brings it about.

We go down to verse 17.

And,

wrong chapter.

There we go.

Verse 17,

it says,

it comes about just as God

said it would.

Abraham prayed to God

and God healed Abimelech

and also healed his wife

and female slaves

so that they bore children.

And we see that

this was all part of God's plan.

That Abraham would pray.

That God would answer that prayer.

And that it would come about

in that way.

This is all part of God's

ordained means

of bringing this about.

We see this again.

Last week we looked at a passage

in Jeremiah 29.

And I'm just going to look at that real quick.

If you want to turn there again.

And you might be familiar,

Samir talked about this,

that Daniel saw this passage

in the prophecies of Jeremiah.

And he realized that

that seven years was up.

And so he was excited.

The exile is coming to an end.

And in chapter 29,

verse 11 through 14,

same passage we looked at last week.

God,

in verse 10,

he says that the seven years

are completed for Babylon.

I will visit you

and I will fulfill my promise to you

and bring you back to this place.

And then in 11,

it says,

For I know the plans I have for you,

declares the Lord,

plans for welfare and not for evil,

to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call upon me

and come and pray to me

and I will hear you.

You will seek me and find me

and when you seek me

with all your heart,

I will be found by you,

declares the Lord.

And I will restore your fortunes

and gather you from all the nations

and all the places

where I have driven you,

declares the Lord.

And I will bring you back

to the place

from which I set you into exile.

So here again,

we see God responding

to the prayers of his people.

That's part of his plan

is that the people would pray to him

and he would respond.

He's going to restore his people

in response to their prayers.

Those prayers aren't going to be

an intrusion into God's plan,

but they're rather a big part

of his eternal plan.

They are both the means and the ends,

the prayers and the restoration.

These have all been ordained by him

and will be brought to pass by God.

So we see the prayers being a part of that.

So prayers then,

they shouldn't be thought of

as attempts to alter God's eternal purposes.

Again, in his book, Pratt writes,

trying to alter the eternal decrees of God

through prayer is like trying

to reach the moon on a trampoline.

It is impossible.

Our petitions cannot interrupt God's plan

for the universe any more

than a trampoline can break

the power of earth's gravity.

Instead, we should understand prayer

to be one of the many secondary causes

that God uses to fulfill his plan.

So I think as we understand that,

as we see our plans,

our prayers as being part of God's plan,

as him responding to our prayers

and even ordaining our prayers

to be a part of his plan,

I think we're getting somewhere.

We're starting to see that our prayers matter.

Our praying is part of how God

brings these things about.

They matter immensely to God.

And we see even further

is that a big part of how he gets

one of the most important things done,

that of bringing glory to himself,

is involved with us praying as well.

I would say, in fact,

that prayer is even a primary means

by which God is glorified in our lives.

Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life,

is first for God's glory,

but then also for our benefit.

And everything that God does,

everything that he allows and ordains,

is in the ultimate sense for his glory.

But we need to remember,

while it's true that God seeks his own glory,

we benefit when he is glorified.

It is to our great blessing that he's glorified.

We pray to glorify him,

but then we receive the blessings from him.

Jonathan Edwards said it this way.

He said,

With respect to God,

prayer is but a sensible acknowledgement

of our dependence on him to his glory.

As he has made all things for his own glory,

so he will be glorified

and acknowledged by his creatures.

And as for that,

he should require this of those

who should be subjects of his mercy.

It is suitable acknowledgement

of our dependence on the power and mercy of God

for that which we need,

but suitable honor paid to the great author

and fountain of all good.

Then he says,

With respect to ourselves,

God requires prayer of us

because it tends to prepare us for its reception.

Fervent prayer, in many ways,

tends to prepare the heart.

Hereby is excited a sense of our need,

whereby the mind is more prepared

to prize the mercy we seek.

Our prayer to God may excite in us

a suitable sense and consideration

of our dependence on God

for the mercy we ask,

and a suitable exercise of faith

in God's sufficiency

so that we may be prepared

to glorify his name

when the mercy is received.

So what he's saying

is that this glory comes in a variety of ways.

First, the prayer is just a simple declaration

of our dependence on God

for his mercy and grace.

And that brings glory to God

as we recognize that

and our mind apprehends that,

that we are fully dependent on God

for this mercy and grace

that we so greatly need.

But he also goes on to say

that prayer is also a way

that God prepares us,

prepares us to see his glory more fully

as we see him answer our prayers.

And he teaches us about his providence

and his love as he answers our prayers.

So if we are truly seeking what is best

and believe that God is doing,

going to do what is best,

we are going to be looking

for the answer to that prayer.

And as we perceive what God is doing,

our prayer becomes a powerful way

that we understand God's will

in our lives and in the world around us.

And we even begin to have our hearts

aligned to his purpose.

And so this is a, again,

prayer is just such a big work

that God is doing in our lives

and in accordance with his eternal purposes.

So we're going to look at one more passage

that demonstrates a lot of this,

but I want to throw just one more little log

on the fire to grow your desire to pray.

I said last week, we pray to God

because he is able to answer our prayers.

The sovereignty of God just ought to motivate us

to pray more.

Bingham Hunter says in his book,

The God Who Is Here's,

prayer grows from the certainty

of God's omnipotence and sovereignty.

If we put it this way,

if God does not reign sovereignly over his creation

and is not able to accomplish

whatever he desires in and through it,

why bother asking him to do something

that he can't deliver?

But we come to God because he can pray,

because he can do these things.

In our house, we've, at various times over the years,

had opportunities to pray with the kids

about certain tragedies,

I think especially when the tsunami hit years ago.

Our kids were, they were smaller,

but some of them were old enough to understand

that this, you know,

there's a lot of bad things happening to people.

And one of the things they understood specifically

that there was a lot of children

that didn't have parents anymore.

And so my kids, they were,

they wanted to help these kids.

And the way they wanted to help them

is have them all come to our house and live.

And, you know, dad, you take care of them.

You know, you be their dad.

You be their mom.

And, you know, this is crazy

because we can't do that.

You know, so the request is,

this doesn't make little sense.

You know, I, much as I would like

to do something like that,

I just don't have the ability

to do something like that.

But when the children of God

come before the throne of grace,

we come before a God

that is able to accomplish whatever he pleases.

We have that assurance from scripture

and we see that over and over.

Nothing is too difficult for him.

And this ought to motivate us to pray.

Hunter further writes,

to be worth praying to,

God has, first of all,

got to have the power to do what we ask.

And second,

he must have sovereignty over creation

to do what he wants to do.

So then we think,

perhaps the question shouldn't be,

why, if God is sovereign, why pray?

But if God isn't sovereign, why pray?

We kind of turn that question around.

So we come to God,

presenting him our requests

because he has both the authority

and the ability to grant

what we have requested in our prayers.

And we see example after example

of this in scripture.

Right back to the time

when the Israelites were in Egypt,

they cry out to God

and he sends a deliverer.

Moses intercedes on behalf of the people

and God relents from destroying the Israelites.

A great example is Elijah.

He's up facing all the prophets of Baal

and he prays to God

and God sends the fire

and shows he is the one true God.

The New Testament again,

we see Jesus pray

and God immediately answering that,

raising Lazarus from the dead

in response to Jesus' prayer.

He busts Peter out of jail

in response to the church gathering

to pray for him.

And we have this miraculous rescue

as angels lead Peter from prison.

And many of us could add to this list

just personal testimonies

of the way God has answered prayers for us.

But lastly, I want to turn to 2 Corinthians 1,

8 through 11.

If you could turn there with me.

We're going to be seeing an example

of how Paul demonstrates

that he believes that prayer matters.

2 Corinthians 1, 8.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,

of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

For we were so utterly burdened

beyond our strength

that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received

the sentence of death,

but that was to make us rely

not on ourselves,

but on God who raises the dead.

He delivered us from such a deadly peril,

and he will deliver us.

On him we have set our hopes

that he will deliver us again.

You also must help us by prayer,

so that many will give thanks on our behalf,

for the blessing granted us

through the prayers of many.

So we see there, verse 10,

that's a strong statement that Paul has

of his confidence in God's sovereign control

over everything,

over every evil power

that comes against him.

Paul is under attack.

In fact, he thinks he's going to die.

Men have attacked him.

Spiritual forces of darkness

have attacked him.

Yet Paul hopes in God,

and it's a solid biblical hope,

not just a wish that things will be better.

He says he will deliver us.

In him we have set our firm hope

that he will deliver us.

Paul's saying no matter who opposes us,

no matter how hopeless the occasion may look,

we know that God is in control.

He can overcome any opposition.

There is no power in heaven or earth

that can stand against him,

and he is the one who knows

the beginning from the end.

I would say Paul strongly believes

Isaiah 46, 9 through 10,

which states,

For I am God,

and there is no other.

I am God,

and there is no one like me,

declaring the end from the beginning,

and from ancient times

things which have not been done,

saying,

My purpose will be established,

and I will accomplish

all my good pleasure.

We see God saying there,

I will basically say,

I will do all that I please.

This is a statement

that really defines God's power for us.

He is the one being in the universe

with all power,

and only God can say,

I will do all that I please.

God is,

He is making the decisions.

He is not just some force,

like maybe in Star Wars,

that we have bad guys and good guys

trying to control this force

for whatever side they are fighting for.

Instead, we have a God

who has the power,

and He uses it the way He sees fit,

to do what He pleases.

So if we pray to God

for something that doesn't please God,

will He do it?

No.

Surely, surely not.

He will not do

what He doesn't please.

Remember the two errors

I mentioned earlier

concerning God's sovereignty in prayer.

Here we see it.

God does whatever He pleases.

God knows the beginning from the end.

So our prayers are just informing God,

and at best can only change us.

That's not what Paul believes,

and we see that here

as we continue on.

He's not going to let that statement stand.

In verse 10, continuing again,

he says,

he talks about God as being the one.

On Him we have set our hope

and that He will deliver us.

You also must help us by prayer

so that many will give thanks on our behalf

for the blessing granted us

through the prayers of the many.

Paul says explicitly

that God will deliver them

as they join in working in prayer,

for Him in prayer.

He says that this blessing comes

from the prayers of the many.

He's not just putting it all on God.

He's seeing this part

as part of the whole.

Basically, Paul is saying

prayer works.

Prayer is effective.

Prayer gets results.

Prayer is powerful.

We see this is what Paul believes,

and this is what he's encouraging

these believers to believe as well,

that their prayers

are accomplishing God's purposes,

that they are a part of what God is doing.

So the sovereign God works through prayer,

and Paul affirms this.

He says,

He will deliver us

as you join in working for us by prayer.

Lastly, we also see in here,

again,

that one of those main purposes of prayer

worked out as God answers them.

He says there at the end,

as you also join in helping us

through your prayers,

so that thanks may be given

by many persons on our behalf,

for the favor bestowed on us

through the prayers of the many.

So what is the result of this prayer?

Paul sees so that thanks

may be given by many persons.

He's not just seeing

that he's going to be delivered.

I mean, he's in trouble.

He wants to be delivered.

We can understand that.

And the Corinthians pray,

and Paul will be delivered.

And this is the blessing

that Paul is talking about.

But that's not the end

that Paul sees.

He also sees that this whole purpose of prayer,

the whole purpose of everything that God does,

is to show what God is like.

He's going to bring glory to himself.

And these people are going to see God at work.

They're going to see God answer the prayer

to show what he's like

to at least three groups here.

To those who prayed,

to those who received the deliverance,

and those who heard about it.

And Paul says that these people

are going to give thanks to God,

that he is able to answer prayer,

and that he does answer prayer.

And so here Paul says

that this prayer results

in thanksgiving to God.

This, rather than Paul's deliverance,

is the most important result

of the prayers of the Corinthians.

So note this carefully.

Paul is not primarily asking

for deliverance from peril.

That's where we would normally focus.

Now, we're under great affliction here.

Please pray that we would deliver.

But that's be delivered.

But that's not Paul's focus.

Paul's focus is always on the glory of God.

That God would be seen more clearly

in a way that causes us to know him

as the awesome creator

and controller of all things.

And as we look at more of Paul's prayers,

we see these same priorities.

Paul prays for others

and even asks for prayers

for himself at times.

But the desired primary result

is that God would be glorified,

that the gospel would be proclaimed.

So does prayer work?

We have to say it does.

It definitely works.

Prayer is effective.

God uses prayer

to bring out his good and wise purposes

for his glory.

Prayer is the most effective means

that we have to get what we need.

Not necessarily what we want,

but to get what we need,

it is the most effective way.

It's to pray to God for it.

We are weak.

We don't always know what we need.

But through prayer,

we can acknowledge that

without his power,

all our plans,

all our efforts,

all our organization,

all our programs

will accomplish nothing

of eternal significance.

When we pray,

we are saying,

we are weak

and you are strong.

We can do nothing apart from you,

but you can do all things.

Whatever we do,

we want to do for your glory.

And so make it obvious

that this work is from you.

This would be the motivation

behind all of our praying.

So in closing today,

I just want to urge you

to consider your own prayer lives.

Do you pray with these

biblical purposes?

Do you pray in faith,

believing that prayer changes things,

that this is the way

that God works in his creation?

If you cannot say yes

to these questions,

your prayer life

will just continue to limp along.

It will continue to be a struggle.

It will continue to just feel

like a duty.

And you will really start

your growth as a disciple.

The key to seeing God

at work in your life

is the key to having

that joyful prayer time.

John Piper,

in his book,

Desiring God,

says this.

He says,

unless I'm badly mistaken,

the reason we don't have

a significant prayer life

is not because we don't want it.

It's because we don't plan it.

And so oftentimes,

we want these things,

but we just don't know

how to go about doing it

or getting it.

So today,

I want you to,

even today,

rethink your priorities

and how does prayer

fit into that.

I know as a church,

again,

we're trying to make an emphasis

on being a praying church

because we believe

that's how God works

in his creation

and that's how he's going

to work in this city

in response to the prayers

of his people.

We don't want to be controlled

by the busyness of life.

We want to,

perhaps you need to make

a new resolve,

set a time,

set a place,

choose a portion of scripture

to guide you.

If you're at a loss,

go back to the model prayer

in Matthew chapter 6

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

where Jesus teaches

his disciples to pray.

Start there.

If you don't know

how to get started beyond that,

ask one of the elders

to help you.

There's plenty of ways

we can help you get started

and help you begin

to grow in that way.

God wants you to pray.

As much as you could possibly

desire to be in his presence,

his desire to be with you

in prayer is greater.

We were created

to communicate

and fellowship with him

and this happens

through his word

and through prayer.

And so,

let me pray for us

as we close today.

Dear Heavenly Father,

we do just give you thanks

for the, again,

for the knowledge

that you have revealed to us

that you are sovereign,

that you know all things,

that you can do all things,

that you control all things,

Father,

and help us to be comforted in this.

But also, Father,

help us this knowledge

cause us to come to you

knowing that you have

ordained prayer

as the means

by which you accomplish

your plans.

Father,

it is just amazing

that you include us

in this process

of bringing about

your eternal purposes.

And Father,

we just thank you

that we can come before you

in prayer,

not just because

we are commanded to

and not just to follow

Jesus' example,

but knowing that

you desire to hear our prayers,

you desire to work

through our prayers.

And that's,

this is the primary means

by which you accomplish

what we desire,

to see you glorified

and to see you made known

to the people around us.

Father,

we pray that you would just,

again,

glorify yourself today

to us

as we think back

on the many ways

that you have answered prayers

in our lives,

have answered prayers

to those around us

in the scriptures.

There's so many ways

that we can see

that you have answered prayers.

Father,

help us to,

to cause us to be,

to be a motivation to us

to pursue you in prayer.

Father,

that it would

then become

a joyful time

as we spend time

with you

in prayer

and response

to the word

and just contemplating

how much you,

you do care for us

and love us.

Father,

again,

just pray blessings

on these people

as they consider us

and we pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.