As a vicar I get a lot of comments about
prayer- even such things as the sun shining on a church event being because I
have a special line to God.
Obviously
in a lot of people’s eyes I have Prayer sussed- I am the professional in it.
Well
unfortunately I just wanted to tell you that that isn’t true.
I
probably have questions just like you guys about prayer and have and still do
struggle with it sometimes.
There
can be a lot of questions around prayer – such as:
Does
it make any difference?
If
God is all knowing and therefore knows the problems of the world already why
does he need me to tell him about it?
There
are questions which I am sure that from time to time we all have struggled
with.
And
today’s talk is not going to necessarily answer all these and other questions
that you will have about prayer.
But
I have to say that I have found this book very helpful as I have thought a
little about prayer and recommend it to
you. – Philip Yancey - Prayer
And
I will be digging into a little bit as we think today about prayer and what it
means for us as members of the body of Christ.
We
are together over the last few weeks and continue into October looking forward
as a church. We have thought about our vision for the next 5-10 years, about
mission and last week we thought about how we were all involved in the ministry
of the church. So today we are thinking about prayer and how central it is in
order to help us move forward as a church.
Our
readings this morning looked at prayer in the sense of presenting everything we
have to God in prayer and our dependence upon him. Today though rather than
looking at those readings in detail I want to talk generally about how prayer
can help us grow not only as individuals but in our relationships within the
church.
So
I want to think about prayer not only in terms of praying on our own but of
praying together as the family of God.
And
I want to think about prayer in two ways-
Prayer and our relationship with God
Prayer and our relationship with
others
Prayer
and our relationship with God
Often we are ask ourselves or we are asked the following
questions.
If
God knows all these things already why should we pray?
If
God knows what he is doing – am I going to change his mind by my prayers?
One
way of beginning to answer these questions is to see prayer as a means to
deepen our relationship with God.
When
Jesus taught us to pray he said –
Pray
like this:
Our
Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come your will be done.
Your
Kingdom come your will be done.
When
we pray like this we are offering to God situations and asking for his will.
Prayer
therefore can be seen as a means of growing in our understanding of God’s will
for others and for ourselves.
When
we put ourselves close to God and pray for his guidance or for his involvement
in a situation or even thank him for something that has been happening- we
begin to see that situation from God’s eyes.
We
begin to see his concern and his will.
I
found this quote helpful from Philip Yancey:
“ Here, I believe is
the key to understanding what is most personal in prayer. We do not pray to
tell God what he does not know, not to remind him of things he has forgotten.
He already cares for the things we pray about…..He has simply been waiting for
u to care about them with him. When we pray, we stand by God and look with him
toward those people and problems. When we lift our eyes from them toward him we
do so with loving praise, just as we look toward our oldest and dearest frineds
and tell how we care for them, though they already know it… we speak to him as
we speak to our most intimate friends – so that we can commune together in
love.”
We
speak to him as to our intimate friends- we commune together in love.
And
as we grow in how we pray then we grow in that relationship our friendship with
God.
We
communicate with people at lots of different levels.
When
we don’t know someone very well we might actually talk more and tell them more
about ourselves- but it will possibly not be at a very intimate level.
When
we get closer we open up more and are more honest with each other.
And
when we know someone very well sometimes we don’t have to say anything do we-
they just know what is going on in our lives, we can be companionably quiet.
And
we speak to our friends about all sorts of things- what we have been doing, how
we are feeling, what’s happening in the world.
Friendship
with God can encompass all these things.
We
have wonderful examples all through the bible of people of people communicating
with God in different ways.
The
discussion with Job, the psalms some of which express deep concern for the
world, some crying out in anguish and some crying out in praise.
So
prayer can deepen our relationship with God- as we not only spend time with him
but as we begin to share his concerns and to seek his will for ourselves and
for others.
As
we begin to see things from his perspective.
Secondly,
prayer and our relationship with others:
As
before when we seek God’s will not only do we grow in our relationship with God
but our attitude and our relationships to others may change.
When
we intercede for situations for others then we can begin to see them as God
sees them and we can begin to share his concern and his love for all.
Have
you ever prayed for someone and in turn seen how you see that person changed.
You
see when you bring someone into God’s presence we begin to see them in a new
way. So when you pray for someone like the neighbour you don’t get on with –
you begin to see them not as the nosy person but as the person who is really
lonely and sad. A silly example but
prayer does change our attitude towards others.
So
prayer can change the way we see others and indeed then how we relate to them.
But
not only does praying FOR others have a profound affect on our relationship
with God and those individuals.
But
also praying WITH others can affect us.
I
have to say that I used to be very frightened about going to prayer meetings.
I
used to dread them as something which I knew I Should go to but would come back
not having enjoyed them.
You
see I used to think that at prayer meetings you had to pray out loud and I
didn’t think I was very good at that.
So
I would sit there preparing a very worthy and wordy prayer in my mind- and I
would just be about to sum up the courage to say it out loud when someone else
would go on and do it first.
So
I would go through the process again only for the same thing to happen.
I
wasn’t really thinking about what other people were saying I was just worried
about what I was going to say.
But
then someone said it didn’t matter whether I prayed out loud or not and it
didn’t mattered what you prayed even if it was only a name.
It
just mattered that you were there with others together praying.
And
I have to say that when I thought like this it revolutionised how I saw things.
And
I began to see the power that was present in praying together.
It
was true that what Jesus said when two or three are gathered I am present.
He
was there and he led us in our prayers and guided us to pray powerfully into
different situations.
When
the early Christians prayed together they not only prayed for power they
received it and were bold in how they then went out to share the good news.
When
we pray together it is powerful as God meets us.
That
certainly felt the case this week when we prayed together at different times on
Wednesday, and I would urge us all to
consider giving up our time to join with others to pray.
But
as well as it being powerful in how we meet with God in our prayer with others
it is also powerful in how we relate to each other.
There
is a vulnerability that is present together when we pray with each other – even
if only silently.
And
in this vulnerability then our relationships deepen as we begin to see each
other in new ways.
This
is true also when we are brave enough to ask for prayer whether it be for
ourselves or others.
This
may be just to ask another member of the congregation the person you have sat
next today to pray for you even this week.
In
these times we as the people of God grow not only in relationships with God but
in our relationships with each other.
So
prayer changes things- it changes our relationship with God and it changes our
relationship with others.
And
in doing so it is a vital component of being part of the family of God.
So
for us to think about- what is God calling you to do in response to this.
Perhaps
it is to commit yourself personally to praying more regularly on your own – to
having time just to be quiet with God.
Perhaps
it is to find one other individual who you feel comfortable with who you could
pray together or commit to pray for each other.
Or
perhaps it is to come along and pray with others at one of our prayer meetings-
to see how God can guide you and recognise the power of praying together.
I
want to end with another quote because we have to admit that still we have lots
of questions about prayer.
We
don’t fully understand it – and yet we know that we should still pray and that
one day we will:
I
end with Philip Yancey again:
“I pray in astonished belief that God desires
an ongoing relationship. I pray in trust that the act of prayer is God’s
designated way of closing the vast gulf between infinity and me. I pray in
order to put myself in the stream of God’s healing work on earth. I pray as I breathe
– because I can’t help it. Prayer is
hardly a perfect form of communication, for I, an imperfect, material being who
lives on an imperfect material planet am reaching out for a perfect Spiritual
Being. Some prayers go unanswered, a sense of God’s presence ebbs and flows,
and often I sense more mystery than resolution. Nevertheless I keep at it,
believing with Paul that, “now I know in part, then I shall know fully even as I
am fully known.”
Yancey,
P (2006) Prayer Does it make a
difference. Hodder, London
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