Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
In Romans the 8th
Chapter it is written:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our
weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit
intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart,
knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.
“Tell us about
your personal life of prayer.”
That is a
question that I’ve was asked in my interview for the position in Sandpoint
twenty years ago.
I actually rather
resented the question.
The reason being,
that if I have to tell a call committee in an interview about my “personal”
life of prayer, and be judged on that basis, then it is no longer a “personal”
life of prayer, but a “professional” practice.
It’s not that I
don’t have a personal life of prayer.
I do.
But it is quite
private.
Over the course
of my life and ministry I am often called upon to offer prayers, many times at
the most critical moments in their life.
There have also been those times that I would pray for a person who is
dying, knowing that my words may very well be the last words that person hears
in this world.
Whether I’m asked
to pray before a congregational meal, or in a hospital room, there is a bit of
a performance about it. At least I can’t
help but feel the necessity of doing a “good job” at it, after all, I’m a
pastor and pastor’s ought to be able to pray well.
The truth is that
sometimes the words flow easily, as naturally as a conversation with someone we
love. That of course is what prayer is.
At other times,
though, finding the words is just difficult.
More times than
not, this is where I find myself in my personal prayer life.
Professionally, I’m
paid to find the right words.
Personally, I don’t
always know how to pray as I ought.
But I’m very good
at sighing.
“What did you
say?” Karla will ask.
“Nothing.” I reply.
“You sigh and
groan a lot.” She responds. “A lot.”
And that, I
believe, is truly the Spirit interceding for me, with those sighs too deep for
words.
“Teach us how to
pray.” The disciples asked.
And so Jesus
taught them what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that has been
on the lips of nearly every Christian since.
Teach us how to
pray.
I’ve had another
struggle with prayer over the years.
It’s the whole “the
rain falls on the just and the unjust alike” thing.
Does prayer work?
I pray that
people will be healed.
Sometimes they are.
Sometimes they are not.
The same can be
said for people who never pray at all.
Some of them live, some of them
die.
What difference
does prayer make?
I don’t know the
answer to that question. What I do know
is that Jesus did teach his disciples to pray, and so we do.
Prayer, in this
regard, is a most basic act of obedience.
We pray because
Jesus taught us to pray and told us to pray.
Not only does he
tell us to pray, he tells us to be persistent.
Almost as though he is saying that we can wear God down and get him to
do what we want by just continuing to nag him time and time again.
And yet our
experience is that often, even when we persist, our prayers are not answered as
we like.
“God always
answers prayer,” people say, “it just that sometimes the answer is ‘Yes’,
sometimes it is ‘No’, and sometimes it is ‘Not yet.’”
But again, my
cynical side struggles with such a response.
How is that any different than not praying at all.
So if we’re sick,
and don’t pray, we will either get well, or not, or maybe it will take some
more time.
You see those
three possibilities cover all the bases.
And so what
difference does prayer make?
Sometimes, the
reason that it’s hard to come up with a satisfactory answer is because we are
asking the wrong question.
Often, when we
ask if prayer works, what we are actually asking is if I always get what I want when I pray.
The answer to
that is quite simple. “No.”
No, I don’t
always get what I want when I pray. Nobody
does.
But there is
something that always happens when we pray.
When we pray, we
develop a faithful relationship with our Lord and God.
Prayer is no more
about asking God for one thing after another, than a conversation with our
spouse is just about getting our own way.
We don’t just
talk to our spouse when we want something.
We talk to them
because we love them, and that’s what lovers do.
We talk to them
because we care for them, and that’s what caring entails.
We talk to them
because we enjoy it.
We talk to them
because our day is not as good without it.
And sometimes, we
simply sit in silence, yet know that they are still there at our side.
That’s the way it
is with prayer.
We talk to God
because we love him, and care, and enjoy it, and benefit from it.
And sometimes, we
simply sit with God in silence, knowing that even then, he is still there.
“3If you then, who are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Here I’m going to
tell you what is most important.
If you were
confirmation kids taking sermon notes, I say, “Write this down”. It’s the main point.
Prayer is about
the Holy Spirit, not about our getting what we want.
Prayer always
involves the Spirit.
Without the
Spirit we cannot even so much as say “Our Father.”
And so to pray is
to experience in a first hand, concrete way the presence of God’s Spirit in
your life.
Sometimes when
people pray they talk about “praying in the Spirit”, and by that they mean
praying in tongues or other such charismatic practices.
What I’m saying
is that all prayer is ‘praying in the Spirit’ because whenever we pray the
Spirit is there.
And whenever the
Spirit is present in our lives, we are drawn into a relationship with the
Father and the Son.
Finally, there is
one thing that prayer ALWAYS does.
Prayer always
changes us.
I may not be able
to change you with my prayers.
I may not be able
to change God with my prayers.
But always, I am
changed.
As I pray, I will
grow and mature in my faith and relationship with God.
It’s that
simple. It will happen.
Every time.
And one of the
changes that will take place is that I will develop a sense of gratitude toward
God, and an appreciation of all that God’ has done for me.
Amen.