THE PRIVILEGE OF PRAYER
(Based on 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 and Acts 4:21-33)
In Luke 11:1 one of the disciples asks Jesus to teach them to pray. He didn't ask Jesus to teach them how to baptize more people, how to pray more powerfully or how to grow a huge ministry. It appears that he - and the other disciples - understood the value and the privilege of prayer. It is truly a great privilege to have the avenue of prayer available to us, by which we are able to draw close to and to walk with God.
1. THE PRIORITY OF PRAYER
2 Chronicles 20:1-13
Faced with a daunting situation, Jehoshaphat responded by praying. He resolved to pray, v.3. To resolve is to make a determined decision. It is to decide firmly. Praying as a first instance in face of a problem or crisis is not an automatic response, it is something we must decide to do, and something we will decide to do when we understand the priority that it must be.
Q. What do you do when alarmed/faced with a problem - do you panic or do you pray? Do you get anxious or do get on your knees?
vv. 3,4;13 - Jehoshaphat didn't just pray, he fasted too, and got everyone else to do the same together. Prayer was a habit for the whole nation.
Acts 4:21-26
In response to great opposition and persecution, the church responded by praying. Prayer was their first reaction and not a last resort. And it was not just the apostles, Peter and John, who responded this way, but the whole church, together.
When you have a problem/trial/situation - and we all do - then pray with others and get others to pray for you. Q. Is that your habit in times of challenge?
Marrieds, when there is a problem between you and your spouse, you react in different ways. You could argue, point fingers at each other, ignore each other, slam doors, fight; or you could pray together and get others to pray for you. It is clear which option brings about the joy , peace and fulfillment we all look to experience in marriage.
"When the disciples said to Jesus, as recorded in Luke 11:1, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' for once they were asking for the right thing. Prayer is powerful, and there is nothing we need to know more about than prayer. If a relationship with God is the most important matter in life, then nothing is more important than knowing how to pray.
"A disciple of Jesus who does not know how to pray is like an athlete who does not know about eating properly or an accountant who does not know how to use a calculator or a parent who does not know how to show love. Anyone who tries to take up his cross and follow Jesus and does not learn how to pray is like a towing company that tries to move stalled cars with bicycles and ropes. If we rely on nothing but human power, the life Jesus calls us to is impossible. On his own, not even the most stable, most healthy, most intelligent and most determined person can do it. Only as we are intimately connected with God through prayer will we continually find the forgiveness, strength, inspiration and direction needed to live the life Jesus described and expected of his followers.
"Prayer is not the only thing needed by disciples. It is just the most important thing. It is not the only thing needed to accomplish our world mission and build great relationships and have great families. It is just the most important thing for those of us with these goals."
From the introduction of the book, "Teach Us To Pray" edited by Thomas and Sheila Jones, DPI Publications, Woburn, MA. 1995.
As men and women who seek to walk with God, let us all learn to pray our way through life - to pray our way out of trouble and pray our way to the solutions that God provides.
2. THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
2 Chronicles 20:4
The purpose of prayer is to seek help from God. Also v.12. It is an attitude of "Without God I can do nothing." It is an attitude of humility and surrender. Jesus expressed the same in John 5:30 when he said, "By myself I can do nothing."
By ourselves we are unable to be great husbands/wives/parents/friends. We are unable to handle or make sense of all that life throws at us.
Acts 4:29
The church prayed here to seek God's help. They knew that the boldness they needed could only be found in God through prayer.
Understanding the purpose of something helps you get the most out of it. Understanding the purpose of prayer will help us to get the most out of it. We pray, in humility, to get help from God because we are incapable on our own.
Prayer is not a "give me" switch which we press when we want things. It is not something you do just because your ministry has had little fruit and now you want baptisms. It is a habit to practice because you need God daily.
We pray to get our hearts and minds right and to learn to love God as Father, worship him as King, submit to him as Master, walk with him as a friend, and trust him as the author and perfecter of our faith.
"Often we pray because we want answers. God certainly answers prayer, but we must not pray just get an answer. Maybe that is one of the things God is teaching us when he doesn't always give us exactly what we want. God does answer prayer, but we must pray in order to know God and walk with him. As Jesus' disciples who have taken on his mission, we are concerned about getting the gospel to the entire world, but we must not pray just so we can finish that mission. We will not finish it without prayer, that is for sure; and it is one of the reasons we are writing this book at this time. But as we pray, we must be seeking more than even a righteous conquest of the world. We must be seeking God. We must be seeking his heart. We must be seeking to have his character. If we come to prayer with that attitude, we will be about the mission, and we will find the power to complete it because we will find God himself."
From the introduction of the book, "Teach Us To Pray."
3. THE POWER OF PRAYER
2 Chronicles 20:14-17
Pray, then take up your position, v. 17. Useful positions to take up, if you aim to:
-Help someone to know God: meet people, make friends, open the Bible with them
-Find a special friend/future spouse: seek advice, build friendships, be pure.
-Find a job: get out and look
-Make personal changes: get with people who can help, and open up
-Excel academically: study hard, get help from teachers, lecturers and other students.
v. 20 Having prayed and fasted, Jehoshaphat is different. He is now confident, assured and ready for the challenge.
v. 23,24 A great victory is complete. Prayer provides the climate and sets the stage for God to do great things.
This is the power of prayer. It:
-is the Force to Fill us with Faith, Mark 9:24
-is the Power to Put you at Peace, Philippians 4:6,7
-Heralds a Heavenly Harvest, Matthew 9:37,38
-Works to Weed out your Weaknesses, evident in the lives of many throughout Scripture
-is a Wide Open Window to Wisdom, James 1:5
-Builds in us Bravery and Boldness, Acts 4:29,31,33
Remember that the power of prayer is not just to give us spectacular statistics and astronomic growth figures. It is not just to turn us into headline news. It is the power to change us as individuals, to be more like God and to more deeply experience a great walk with Him.
In the book, "Be Still My Soul," (DPI Publications, 1998) that he wrote, Sam Laing recalls (p. 31), "When my family lived in Boston, I went on a two-week fast, and on the last night I stayed up all night in prayer. Different brothers in the church joined me every other hour. It was an incredible time of growth for us all. I drew amazingly close to God, and the changes I made in my life and ministry because of the fast and the night of prayer helped to reshape my entire future." The victory Sam experienced from prayer, here, had no show or razzmatazz, but it was personal change that made a great difference.
Sam continues, "Years later, before an important gathering of church leaders in Jerusalem, I took the better part of a day to pray. Several days before it began, I went away by myself and spent hours with God, praying for the conference, its leaders and participants and for my own heart to be attuned to God's message. I went to the conference in a better frame of mind and with a better attitude than I ever had at an event like this - and as a result, I experienced a refreshing, heartening time of growth." Again, it's not that as a result of Sam's pre-conference prayer, he ended up being the "star attraction" or keynote speaker. The conference did not mark his gaining promotion, rising to new heights of acclaim or being appointed to elevated levels of responsibilty. That was neither the point behind his prayer nor the power that came from it. Victory lay in the frame of mind with which he was able to go into the conference.
Personal change and growth is a great victory, for which it takes great power to achieve. Once we make those changes, we are then able to be effective for God, and great exploits will follow as a consequence, not as an end in themselves.
It is a privilege that we have the opportunity to pray, and that by being purposeful in prayer we get to experience god's power in our lives. So, brothers and sisters, let us pray!