July 28, 2002 - Lesson: Luke 11:1-13

Sermon Title: Lord, Teach Us to Pray

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INTRODUCTION:

Herb Miller, Connecting With God, tells the story about a tavern and a church. (1)

"When a nightclub opened on Main Street, the only church in a small town organized an all-night prayer meeting. The members asked God to burn down the club. Within a few minutes, lightning struck the club, and it burned to the ground. The owner sued the church, which denied responsibility.

"After hearing both sides, the judge said, "It seems that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer, while the church doesn't.""

  1. I know, we could spend time talking about acts of God, another time, we might.
    1. Why would the church not take ownership of its action.
    2. Perhaps we want effective prayer, but not too much.
    3. We might get what we pray for?
  2. Or, perhaps we re anxious about change.

James A. Harnish (Hyde Park Church, Tampa, Florida) tells of the man who came home one day to find that his wife had hung a plaque on the wall which read, "Prayer changes things."

Within 24 hours the plaque had been removed.

She asked, "What's wrong? Don't you like prayer?"

He said, "Sure, I like prayer. I don't like change."

    1. Prayer changes us.
    2. Prayer changes others.
    3. Prayer changes "things."
    4. Prayer changes the church.
    5. Prayer changes the world.
  1. Perhaps we only want some of the power of prayer and not all of it.
    1. Prayer has the potential to contribute substantial benefits to our lives
      1. Prayer can center the thoughts
      2. Prayer can generate wisdom.
      3. Prayer can create positive decisions
      4. Prayer can empower actions.
      5. Prayer can produce community.
      6. Prayer is a source of incredible personal and community power.
    2. It is no wonder that Jesus' disciples, in Luke 11.1, implored him to teach them to pray.
      1. They saw the power in Jesus' life and realized its source and the means by which that source could be utilized.
      2. What Jesus did was not done by his own personal power, but by the power of God.
        1. The power of God that could be accessed by prayer
        2. Before Jesus acted, he prayed.

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MAIN BODY

  1. There are some simple rules of prayer that we should establish.
    1. Believe that God is.

...without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him, (Hebrews 11.6).

      1. God does exist.
      2. God does reward.
      3. We sometime become confused by incomplete or distorted concepts of God.
    1. Believe that God hears all prayers.
      1. I was raised to believe that God only hears the prayers of the righteous.
      2. Bible readings like Psalm 66:16-20 were read.

Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

      1. Fortunately the Psalm does not end there.

But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.

    1. Understand what one should pray for.
      1. We could develop a list of items for which to pray and a list of items for which one ought not to pray.

In his book, The Faith Factor, Dale A. Matthews, M.D., identifies five purposes of prayer (2):

        1. Praise and Adoration: Responding to the Glory and Grandeur of God
        2. Thanksgiving: Acknowledging the Giver of All Good Gifts
        3. Confession: Admitting Our Failures and Asking for Pardon
        4. Intercession: Asking God to Help Others.
        5. Petition: Asking God to Take Care of Us or provide for our needs.
      1. Lists are problematical.

Dan Shutters, Laugh Lines (3), shares a story that well illustrates a point.

A young boy wanted a bicycle very badly. All his friends had one. Finally his mother suggested he take his concerns to the Holy Mother Mary in prayer. Johnny wrote his prayer out on a piece of paper before he went to bed, and prayed, Mary, mother of God, could you see that I get a bicycle? All my friends have one. Amen. He placed the prayer next to his statue of the Virgin and went to sleep.

The next morning when he didn't have a bike, he wasn't discouraged, and he repeated the same steps that night, and every night for the next week, with the same disappointing result.

Finally he took his statue of Mary, wrapped it in a towel, and hid it in the back of a dresser drawer. When he went to sleep that night he prayed: Jesus, if you want to see your mother again, I better get that bike!

      1. Rather than a list, create a concept.

Kathleen Norris in Amazing Grace (4) writes:

Prayer is not doing, but being. It is not words but the beyond-words experience of coming into the presence of something much greater than oneself. It is an invitation to recognize holiness, and to utter simple words - "Holy, Holy, Holy" - in response. Attentiveness is all; I sometimes think of prayer as a certain quality of attention that comes upon me when I'm busy doing something else. When a person - friend or foe - suddenly comes to mind, I take it as a sign to pray for him. I know several pastors who use their daily jogging run in order to pray for all the members of their churches, lingering over each name. "Just saying the name can be a prayer," one said to me, "because if I don't know what that person needs, I can be certain that God does."

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    1. This is what Jesus does, he helps us to create a state of being.

John 14:13-14 (NRSV)

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. {14} If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

John 15:16 (NRSV)

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

John 16:23-24 (NRSV)

On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. {24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

      1. We have talked about this before.
      2. Name refers to the total persona of Jesus.
        1. His personality.
        2. His understanding of life and God.
        3. What is important and meaningful.
        4. Using this concept, you can be assured that any prayer request you make will be answered.
          1. No qualifications.
          2. No reservations.
    1. Avoid vain repetitions and empty praise.

Matthew 6:5-8, Introduction to Prayer in Sermon on Mount.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

      1. I have great reservations of using myself as an example, but I will.
      2. What I try to do is speak from the heart in simple and non-repetitive language.
      3. This is how prayer ought to be.
      4. Heart-felt need with simple words and ideas.
    1. The last item for our prayer list is persistence.

{5} And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; {6} for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' {7} And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' {8} I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

      1. That's the kind of persistence that Jesus is talking about.

{9} "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. {10} For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

      1. We desire open windows and open doors to receive the blessings of prayer.

CONCLUSION:

  1. These are the basics.
  2. There is probably more that could be said, but this is enough.
  3. Do we dare to ask the same question that the disciples asked Jesus?

Lord, teach us to pray.

  1. If we will we allow Jesus to teach us to pray,
    1. We will find that our prayer life will fulfill our expectations.
    2. We will find that more of our prayers are being answered.
    3. We will find that our lives are filled with more peace and satisfaction.
  2. If all else fails pray this prayer.

There is a poster popular in church offices that counsels how to pray under certain circumstances.

In big bold letters it says "Call for Help!" and then these words:

A prayer to be said

When the world has gotten you down,

And you feel rotten,

And you're too doggone tired for words,

And you're in a big hurry,

And besides, you're mad at everybody,

And you feel like only a miracle can save you . . .

"HELP! "

1. Herb Miller, Connecting With God: 14 Ways Churches Can Help People Grow Spiritually (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 67-68.

2. Dale A. Matthews, The Faith Factor (New York: Viking, 1998), 214-222.

3. Dan Shutters, Laugh Lines, Presbyterians Today, December 1997, 3.

4. Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998), 350.

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