5-11-08 The Hidden Purpose of Prayer

You probably don’t remember the first prayer that you ever prayed, but if you’re like me, the first prayers that you prayed were prayers that someone taught you, like God is good, God is Great, or Now I lay me down to sleep. My wife and I sort of rebelled against this type of memorized prayer when we taught our kids to pray. And so, we just gave our kids some categories about what they might pray about, and then they wove all those categories together and formed their own rote prayer. They were the same every night. There’s something about prayer where we just keep going back to the same old dead, crusty prayers.

What I’d love to do in these couple of weeks that we’ll be talking about prayer, is to move us beyond the mentality of saying ATM prayers. I hate it and you hate it, but that’s the way it often times goes with our prayer life.

I mean, The first prayer that I remember praying was with my grandma, who was very religious, and when I was seven, she asked me if I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart. What do you do, when your grandma asks you such a question, say, “Nahhh” What else ya got? So we kneeled in her living room and I asked Jesus to come into my heart right then. But I’m thinking that sort of got me off on the wrong foot, because I’ve never stopped asking God for stuff.

Most of us pray like we use the ATM. We go to God when we need something. Then, maybe you’ve experienced this, I go to the ATM expecting to get money out, but then the ATM is broken or it eats my card and I can’t get any money out and I get real frustrated. When we need something from God and we ask him for it and then most of us get frustrated when God doesn’t do what we ask him to do, and that’s our prayer life. If we were brutally honest with ourselves, we’d know that we’re not that interested in pursuing God. We just want stuff from God.Prayer is sometimes like my telephone line. God is always trying to call us and always trying to talk to us and it’s kind of like when I try to call home sometimes and the phone just keep ringing busy. God keeps trying to get in touch with us, but we are constantly busy. God can’t get through.

Bruce Almighty DVD Chapter: 5     Start Time: 0:21:04     End Time: 0:22:01

We screen all of our calls and we screen God’s calls to us, because God is always trying to get through, he’s always trying to talk to us, he’s always trying to draw near to us, but unless it’s a real emergency we kind of hold him off – we don’t answer.

When I do talk to him it because of a need that I have, and I say “do this”, or “touch that person” or “fix this problem in my life”, and when he doesn’t do that, then it’s all bad.

But I want to suggest this morning that prayer is more than saying “God, I want you to get on my agenda, I want you to do my work, I want you to fix these things in my life. When we pray this way, God becomes the servant and we become the Lord commanding our slave to work. God becomes our servant or our slave. We may have never thought about it this way, but when we go to God with our list of prayers, God can very easily become the Jeanie in lamp in whom we make wishes to. God is more than a cosmic vending machine that we put prayers in and expect to get whatever button we push.

I want suggest that prayer is much more than just asking God for what we need. Prayer is us saying to God, “God, I am available to do your will” rather than for us to say, God would you do my will. Do you see the difference? We often times say, God, will you do this and will you fix that and will you touch that person and we only go to him when we need him to do something for us. God becomes our servant. God becomes our slave or God becomes our Jeanie in the bottle . . . and we wonder why he doesn’t listen and why he doesn’t answer.

In contrast, prayer in the Bible is understood, as a way of saying, “God, I am available for you.” or “God, I am your servant”. God, I am available to do your work. Do you see the difference?

It’s more than saying, God, I want to get you on my agenda. It’s saying God, I want to make sure that I’m staying on your agenda.

One time someone asked Billy Graham if he had it to do all over again what would he do different? Billy Graham, many know is probably the most influential spiritual leader of our time. He has spoken in countries all over the world. He has counseled many presidents. He has spoken before congress. He has led hundreds of thousands of people to Christ. He’s preached to millions of people. He’s preached on every continent. He’s been faithful – there haven’t been any stories in the newspapers about his unfaithfulness. And Billy Graham was asked, “What would you do differently if you had it to do all over again.” He said this, “I would pray more”.

At an old age, Billy Graham had only one regret. He didn’t pray enough. As an old man he realized the significance of prayer and he realized that he didn’t have enough of it. Here’s the thing that I’ve noticed in my own life. Prayer is hard, but the more I succeed at praying, the more that I realize I need more prayer, because I realize that I need more God.

Jesus called us to follow him. This is what Jesus did:

Jesus, after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, Matthew 14:23 (NRSV)

Jesus, God in the flesh, the one who modeled how we as humans are supposed to live, is often times found praying. Why is prayer such an important part of who God created us to be. If you have a Bible, turn to Genesis 1

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NRSV)

God is Spirit and we were created in his image. We have this part of us that is spirit. Prayer is a language of the spiritual side of us. Just so you don’t think that I’m  getting to far out there. The fruit of the spirit as understood in Galatians 5:22-23 is

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Gal 5:22-23

Prayer is important because we get in touch with the part of us that is spiritual – it connects the spiritual side of us with the God who is Spirit, and we become all that we were created to be. Apart from God, all we are is this human shell.

A human being without prayer is like a toy without batteries. The toy can be pretty cool to look at, but it can never be all that the creator intended it to be. A human being without prayer is like a car without gas. The car can look pretty cool, be real comfortable, but it can never be all that the creator of that car intended it to be.

Prayer connects the spiritual side of us to the God who is spirit. Prayer is an essential part of who we were created to be. So here’s a definition of prayer I’d like to work with over the next few weeks.

Prayer is constant communion or connection with God. Communion is made up of two words – Common and Union or a Common Bond – there’s a commonness that bonds us together. God is spirit and there is a part of us that’s spirit. Therefore there needs to be a common union between us and God.

At first, I had prayer as being constant communication with God. And there is communication in prayer, but communication gets it down to business. I got to do business with God. Here’s my stuff. Here’s my deal. You got any stuff. Ok that’s your deal. Let’s talk. Let’s beam. You good, Ok, I’m good to. I prayed, now I can check it off my list.

Communication gets it down to business, but prayer is so much more than that. Prayer is so much more than saying words to God. If I said to you to write down on a piece of paper, “What is your definition of God?” Most of us would come around this idea, “prayer is when I talk to God.” Talking to God is important, but prayer is not just communication, but communion or a deep connection.

Now, talking to God is one thing, and we don’t do enough of that, but listening to God is another. Most of us in this room don’t understand that act. Most of us don’t understand how to listen to God; how to hear God speak; how to differentiate between God speaking and these other voices in our heads. Listening is a whole other problem.

Let me see if I can make this more clear.

How many of you have ever been in love? Let me see your hands? How many are in love right now? A few less hands. How many of you have ever been in a relationship where you were so close that you could communicate with the other person without talking? Have you ever been in a relationship where you thought you knew what they were thinking before they actually said it, and you were right? How does this happen?

This doesn’t have to be a husband or a wife. It could be a roommate or a friend or a co-worker – someone who you’ve spent a lot of time with them and you begin to really know them. You begin to know them so well, in fact, that you begin to know what they’re thinking or what they’re feeling or what they’re going to say before they say it because you know them really well. You’ve connected with the inner them.

Have you ever been in relationship with someone where you could have a really good time just driving down the road? You are with them and that’s enough. It’s just good. That’s when you know that you’re going deep in a relationship.

New relationships, you have to have this talk list. Right, this is the way these things work. When you date or develop new friendships you have to be able to carry the conversation, so you say, “how’s your job going?” Fine. Oh, ok. You have to have more than one thing to talk about or else you get this uncomfortable silence just feels so wrong and you’re thinking what else can I say, or I hope she’ll say something. It feels weird to have quiet when you first get to know someone, but the longer that you get to know someone the easier it is to just “Be” with someone.

When you are new to praying, you might have to develop a talk list. Tell God who he is to you, ask him about his work, Say, “God what are you doing in the world” God, what do you want me to do in the world, or God, what does heaven look like. How do relationships work there. How should my relationship with my spouse, children, co-workers look? Relationships start with a talk list.

How many of you have had this uncomfortable silence when you’re talking with God. God seems to be pretty quiet and maybe you’re a pretty quiet person, and so the silence is kind of awkward, and maybe you’ve come to the understanding that this prayer thing just doesn’t work well between you and God because you don’t talk much and God doesn’t seem to talk much and the silence is kind of weird and awkward.

A first date is just awful if there is silence, but when you’ve known someone for years, silence can be not just ok, but really good. The further the relationship goes, the further that connection and communion starts to happens and then silence is ok. Communion is more than communication. It is the connection that happens when we communicate together for a long time. Communion is the constant awareness of the other person. You’re thinking about them and they’re thinking about you and it’s good. That’s what prayer is.

Prayer is not a five-minute list – it might start that way, kind of like that first date. Your prayer life may start out with a list of things that you need in order to keep the conversation going, but the idea is not for the relationship to stay there – both in a date or in prayer, but to move from just conversation to connection and communion with each other.

We are constantly praying for you (Paul is a balcony person), that our God may count you worthy of his calling (that they would be all that God created them to be), and that by his (God’s) power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (NIV)

Do you hear the common bond that Paul has with these Thessalonians. He loves these people. Do you know how he got that love for them? He got it by spending time with God and he realized that God loved these people and he began to see what God saw in them and now he loves them like God does.  Paul is praying that God, by his power, would fulfill every good purpose of yours everything that comes from God – everything that comes from God and every act prompted by your faith. Paul is praying for up there to come down here in these people’s lives.

Paul knows God and he knows his will and his desire for up there to come down here. He knows that God’s will is for these people – all people to become all that he created them to be. Can you hear in Paul’s prayer that he loves God deeply – there is this common bond between him and God. Paul isn’t asking God to do his will. Paul has spent time with God and is asking God to do his will and Paul is participating in God’s mission.

Prayer is constant communion with God. How do we do that? Here are three ways that will help.

HEAD – The first way to get a better prayer life is to get to know God better and understand his ways. The greatest commandment is to love God with all that we are. At the heart of loving is knowing. We cannot love anyone or anybody without knowing them. I grew to know and love Shannon, my wife, by talking and spending time with her. I get to know God by spending talking and spending time with him. There is no shortcut to having a connection or  communion with God. It takes time to get to know him and the best way to do that is to talk to him and read about him in the Bible. I would start in the book of John.

Prayer is not about talking to God so that I can give him my list so that I can get things done that I want done. Prayer is constant communion with God. Prayer is about getting to know God so that I can be in tune with God, so that I can be in tune with who God is, and so that I can know what it means for up there to come down here and what part I play in doing that. We cannot love God without knowing God.

HEART – Second, prayer is about catching his heartbeat and his purposes. You and I begin to understand in our heats – not just our minds – God’s heart – what matters most to God. Prayer ends up becoming, not what am I thinking about today, but “God what are you thinking about today, God. What’s on your heart? Where do you want me to focus on today? What are you thinking about for me, for my spouse, my family, my friend, my job. What’s on your agenda for me today, because I want to catch your heartbeat today, and I want to stay on your agenda throughout my day? Prayer is about knowing God’s heart. Without knowing God’s heart, we cannot know God and prayer will always be a awkward thing until we get to know God and God’s heart.

HANDS – Third, we prayer and seek to be in communion with God to access the power of heaven, the power of God’s kingdom, and the power of God in our lives. There is the place in prayer where we say to God, “This is what I need”, but it’s after we seek to know God and God’s heart and God’ agenda for me and for my life that we can say, God, I need . . . wisdom, strength, patience, love. Maybe I need some joy in my life, so that I can bring joy to someone else’s life. Then it’s ok to say, “God, I’m going to need some things for me to do your work.

Prayer starts with “God, I want to know you.” Prayer continues with “God I want to know what’s on your heart, on your agenda, and prayer ends with laying before God my needs in order to carry out the commands of heaven . . . on earth. “God, I want your will to be done – not my will to be done – God, I want your will to be done in my life and I want up there to come down here in my life, so that I might go out there and deliver some of some of up there down here.

God says, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

God gives the ability to grow physically as a blessing to all people, but we can only become spiritually mature by praying and communing or connecting deeply with God.

When we follow the greatest commandment and love God with all that we are, we become spiritually mature and it’s only by becoming spiritually mature that we can be a people who can live out the second greatest commandment, which is to love our neighbor, those people we find our self next to, as our self.

When we pray and say, God, not my will, but yours be done. When we stop playing God and say, God, I’ll follow you. When we stop asking God to do our work and instead asking God how we can be involved in his work, then we begin to bring up there down here. We begin to enter God’s plan for bringing heaven to earth.

Prayer is about Love. Prayer is about communing with God. Prayer is about falling in love with God. Prayer is about getting to know God. Prayer is about getting to know the heart of God. Prayer is about joining God in what he’s doing.