Faithful prayer

Good morning, everyone. Today we are continuing on our theme of prayer and I've been asked to talk about faithful prayer.

But before I begin, let's just bow our heads and pray together.

Lord, we thank you for the amazing gift of prayer.

And Father, amazing though that gift is, sometimes it feels really confusing to us because our prayers are not apparently answered in the way we want.

And so Lord, we pray today that you would teach us from your word, that we might truly understand afresh what it means to pray faithfully.

And we ask this in your son's name. Amen.

Mark chapter 11, Jesus says these words, have faith in God.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

Have faith in God.

In the year of my birth, 1949, a remarkable intervention of God happened on some islands north of Scotland called the Hebrides.

An elderly couple of women who were sisters, Christine and Peggy Smith, have been praying together for a very long time,

based on a verse in Isaiah chapter 64, which inspired them to pray week in, week out.

Isaiah 64 · chapter mention

And this is the verse.

The Lord says,

Meeting together, praying around this promise of God in Isaiah.

At the same time, a group of men had been meeting in a barn on the Hebrides, not far away,

and they'd been praying faithfully.

That God would intervene.

That he would bring about what theologians call revival.

That is something only God can do.

One of the men who was a minister, in somewhat despair, said one night,

he said, I think we're wasting our time praying.

He said, because it says in Psalm 24,

who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

In other words, who will come into the Lord's presence?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

I think, he said, we're wasting our time praying that God will intervene in our islands,

unless we seek forgiveness of our sin.

That night, at 2 a.m. in the morning, God broke through.

All over the island, in the cottages, the cross as they call them up there,

lights went on.

And people were found in the streets of the Orkneys,

repenting and seeking God.

That's what revival is.

It's an intervention of God.

And only God can intervene.

We're thinking today about faithful prayer.

What a challenging idea that is for many of us.

I want today just to say three things.

I've been told my time is limited.

I mean, I don't mean I'm going to die.

Anything's possible.

What I mean is

that

during the summer months,

we kind of abbreviate the services a bit.

So three things.

The first thing is

have faith in God.

Very interesting.

You will realize that

Jesus spoke the language of Aramaic,

which is a kind of variation of Hebrew.

The New Testament in its original form

was written in Greek,

and then it's been translated into English.

So by the time we get it,

it has been slightly

mangled, maybe.

But one thing that's very clear

is from the Greek grammar

of that sentence,

the emphasis on that sentence

is on the word God.

And I say that because

I think many of us

place the emphasis,

a lot of preachers do this,

place the emphasis on the word faith.

So we all go home

feeling terrible,

thinking our faith

is not big enough,

whereas in fact,

what Jesus was saying

to his people is,

look,

put the emphasis,

when you pray,

think about God,

not about the size

of your faith.

You remember that

elsewhere,

Jesus says,

if you have faith

the size of a mustard seed,

you'll be able to say

to that mountain,

go throw yourself

into the sea,

and it will happen.

You know how big

a mustard seed is?

It's tiny.

Jesus said,

even if you have

a tiny bit of faith,

amazing things

could happen.

Have faith

in God.

Nowhere in the Bible

does it encourage people

like us

to have faith in faith.

I think there are

some people

who think like that,

but that's never

what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches

not how big

is your faith,

but how big

is your God.

When you read

sentences in Scripture

like,

without God,

with God

all things are possible,

do you believe it?

Don't put your hands up.

Do you believe it?

So the first thing is,

if we're going to pray

faithfully,

our focus needs

to be on God,

and we need,

in our minds,

in our souls,

in our hearts,

to imagine

that this God

can do anything.

The second thing

about faithful prayer

is that people

who pray faithfully,

like the old girls

in the Hebrides,

pray persistently.

in Luke chapter 11,

Luke 11 · chapter mention

the disciples

come to Jesus

and they say to Him,

Lord,

teach us how to pray.

And Jesus

gives them

the Lord's prayer

for starters.

And then He says,

a curious little parable,

He says,

what about

if you're lying

in bed one night

and somebody comes

and hammers on

your door

at midnight,

and you shout

out of the window,

and here I'm paraphrasing,

clear off,

it's midnight

and I've already

locked up.

Come back tomorrow.

And the friend

keeps on hammering

on the door.

And eventually,

says Jesus,

the owner of the home

will go downstairs

and open the door.

Why?

Because persistence

pays off.

There is a danger,

another danger,

which Jesus talks about

in the Sermon on the Mount,

where He actually says,

don't babble

like the pagans do.

But persistence

is a very big

New Testament word.

We need to learn

what it is

to pray persistently.

Like Peggy and Christine,

like those men

meeting in a barn,

we need not to give up.

Which will be a challenge

for some of you

because you've never

got started.

Be persistent

in prayer.

The third thing is,

and this may be

the most challenging

and most important

thought of all,

it's this.

In that passage

we read from Mark's Gospel,

again,

in the Greek,

it's full of

conjunctions.

It is

joined up

thinking.

There's a flow

of thought here.

Jesus says this,

look,

have faith in God.

When you pray,

believe that what

you pray for

might happen

and it will be done.

And the third thing is,

when you stand praying,

if you have anything

against anyone,

go and seek

their forgiveness.

Wow.

I could

weigh my hands

in the air

and shout

hallelujah

for the first two,

but

going to seek

forgiveness

from other people?

That is really

hard yards,

isn't it?

The faithful

prayers

understand

that our

horizontal

relationships,

one with another,

will have an impact

on our

vertical

relationship

praying to God.

I wonder

if there's

anybody in the

house

who needs

to pick up

a phone

and make a

call,

get a pen

out or write

a letter,

get a computer

out and do

an email.

and just

say,

I'm sorry.

Because if you

want to be a

faithful prayer,

you really need

to keep a

guard on your

horizontal

relationships,

says Jesus.

When you

stand praying,

if you have

anything against

anyone.

The Bible is

even more

challenging than

that.

In that,

it says,

if you have

something against

your brother,

you go and

put it right.

And the second

thing is,

it says,

if your brother

has something

against you,

you still go

and put it

right.

Have faith in

God,

be persistent

in your

praying,

and be sure

that your

praying will be

regulated

by your

willingness to

forgive others.

God's

God's

peace.

I wonder

if there's

any other

soul in this

church who is

troubled as

I am by

the way the

world is going

in the West.

I wonder if

there's anybody

else in the

house who

wonders what

can be done

here.

We've heard

politicians leap

up making wild

promises just to

attract our

votes.

We're looking

around this

society in

which we

live, and

we're wondering

to ourselves,

has the

Western world

lost its

moral compass?

We're looking

at institutions

which are

broken,

sometimes beyond

repair.

Does it ever,

ever, ever

cross your

mind that

maybe only

God can

sort this

out?

Listen,

friends,

this may be a

wake-up call

for you,

but today I

think we need

to commit

ourselves to

praying for

revival in

our time.

Some of

you do that

already, I

know that.

May God

bless your

persistence in

prayer.

I cannot

myself see a

way out of

these intransigent

problems that we

have in our

culture without

the mighty

intervention of

God.

And if you

agree with me,

and I can't

make you agree

with me,

prayer, I

think we need

to think very

carefully about

this faithful

prayer.

I think we

need to think

very carefully

about whether

we commit

ourselves to

praying faithfully,

persistently,

with an eye to our

horizontal relationships,

for God to

visit our

land.

Come down,

oh love

divine,

come down.

And who

knows what

might happen.

That revival

in the Hebrides

lasted over a

three-year period.

Interestingly,

the biggest town

in the Hebrides,

Stornoway,

was not

impacted at

all.

Why?

Because the

ministers in

that town

were sceptical.

Good Lord,

deliver us

from our

scepticism.

Good Lord,

rekindle our

faith in the

God with whom

all things are

possible.

Good Lord,

send your

fire upon

your church

that we

truly might

pray faithfully

and God

might visit

us afresh

and bring

us alive

in the power

of His

Holy Spirit.

And people

in this town,

in other

towns,

in any

town where

there is

no cynicism

will be

saved.

And the

world will

become a

different place.

Come down,

oh love

divine.

Fill thou

the soul

of mine

and visit

it.

With

thine own

ardour

glowing,

oh comforter,

draw near.

Within my

heart appear

and kindle

it,

thy holy

flame bestowing.

In the name

of our

amazing God,

Father,

Son,

and Holy

Spirit,

and the

people who

agreed,

said together,

singing,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

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