Why Pray

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“Have you ever said, ‘Well, all we can do now is pray’? …

When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.”

--- Billy Graham

Prayer is a vital aspect of the Christian life.

When we begin to think about prayer, many of us think about the image in the picture….giving thanks at a meal time. Prayer has become somewhat of a formality and ritual that occurs at meals. It has lost the intimacy, the purpose, and the original meaning behind it.

Many of us understand what prayer is and what it is for.‌ Even though we know we should pray constantly, many—if not most—of us would confess we don't pray as often as we should. Could the reason we don't pray more be that we have misunderstood the purpose of prayer?

Today I want to ask the question: "Why pray?" I know some of you are thinking that is a ridiculous question. I hope you will bear with me, because part of what I want to do is challenge you to look at your motivation in praying.

Most everybody prays when they are desperate. We sometimes hear the phrase "There are not atheist in a foxhole." This comes from the idea that when you are pinned down in a foxhole with bullets flying all around you, everyone is inclined to pray. The idea is that in life we all get to some point where you realize you cannot accomplish something without divine intervention, and so you go to God in prayer.

The idea I want to focus on is that, according to God's Word, our entire lives are intended to be lived with the attitude that unless God intervenes, we can't do anything. It is having an attitude of absolute dependence on God: not just in case of emergency, but at every moment.

As Christians, we have an opportunity to communicate with God. This is something that is truly unique in Christianity. This is an important topic in the Bible as it is mentioned in some form 693 times. Even with that being said, do we fully understand “Why Pray?” The answer is simple: Because Jesus did. He is our example of what a prayer life should be.

Once we begin to Pray, we will also see three consistent effects of prayer upon us that I would like to talk about tonight

1. Consistently Remind Ourselves We Need God

2. To Develop an Intimate Relationship with God

3. Surrender to Gods Plan

The first effect I would like to discuss is:

1. To consistently remind ourselves that we need God.

If you look at what the Bible shows us about prayer, it will reveal that the heart of prayer is about recognizing we are completely dependent on God. If you examine the life of Jesus, I would put forth that he modeled this to us.

· Jesus should be our example and mentor for prayer

Tonight, I would like to focus specifically on the Gospel of Luke. I chose to utilize Luke tonight due to the attention to prayer details that Luke included in his gospel. As this was written for a gentile audience, therefore, he specifically wanted to express the acts of the messiah. Surely, there are more purposes, but when you look at Luke-Acts in combination, there is a clear purpose to clarify the Christian understanding to converts.

I think this is why we see such a focus the total dependence on God through prayer. Specifically, Luke wanted to point out that Jesus modeled this for us.

Jesus prayed in total dependence on God through out the entire book of Luke. All of the reasons that are pointed out are relevant today.

Salvation and Ministry: look at Luke 3:21. Jesus Prayed after his baptism. This is the only gospel that directly says that Jesus prayed after his baptism. In this instance we can see two different visuals, that your ministry and salvation happens through prayer and that salvation does not end the need for prayer. It really only begins that need!

Temptation: Luke 4: prayed during battle with Satan. What I love about this story is the example that our battles demand prayer. We can stop the temptations, prevent our struggles from taking us down a path we should not go through prayer.

Recharge: Luke 5: At this point, the ministry of Jesus has begun and everybody is coming to see Jesus. There was a high demand on his time and attention. People were traveling from all around to be healed, hear his word, and I am sure that this was taxing and difficult on him. But listen to what Luke tells us about his source of strength: "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (v. 16)

Decision: Luke 6, Jesus is about to call the 12 apostles. What does he do before he chooses them? "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God" (v. 12). Today, we should use this example to take our major decisions to God.

Intercession for others: Luke 9: we have the account of Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. This is a very significant moment in the disciple's training. Right before that, I want you to hear what Jesus was doing: "Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?'" (v. 18).

Stay in the Will of God: Finally, one of the most well-known instances of Jesus praying is when he went to Gethsemane right before his arrest and crucifixion. We see that Jesus is praying earnestly for Gods will in his life to continue.

· (Read Luke 22:41-42)

Then He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me—nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Ø "Why was Jesus always praying?" Jesus was God incarnate, so was this necessary? No, but Jesus was showing the world, through his own example, that dependance on God was achieved through prayer.

Another question that we should look at ais "What did he do on his own, apart from prayer?"

§ NOTHING. There's not one thing that Jesus did on his own. It was all in dependence on the Father. Everything Jesus did started with Prayer.

"The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing" (John 5:19) and "By myself I can do nothing" (John 5:30). That really begs the question: If Jesus, God in the flesh, would say, "I could do nothing by myself," then who are you and me to think there is anything in our Christian life we can do on our own?

NOTHING. There's not one thing that we can do on our own. It is all dependent on the Father.

The early church prayed in total dependence on God.

It wasn't just Jesus who emphasized praying all the time; the early church followed his example (Acts 1:14). When the apostles had been persecuted by the Sanhedrin, they didn't get together and complain about how hard it was to be a Christian. They prayed (Acts 4:24). Later in that same chapter, we see the power of praying with absolute dependence on God (v. 31).

When Peter was imprisoned, what was the church's response? Prayer (Acts 12:5). When the church at Antioch wanted to make the gospel known in all nations, how did they start? They started by praying (Acts 13:2-3). When they needed leaders in the new churches, what did they do? "Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust" (Acts 14:23).

Do you sense a pattern?

The fundamental root conviction of the church in Acts was that they could do nothing without God—so they prayed. That is why we must pray, because we are dependent on God and we can do nothing without him. That was what Jesus was modeling to us and his disciples. I believe that Jesus continually prayed to show us how important that single act can be.

What about in todays world? There will still be aspects of life today that should drive you to the throne

So how will you handle an unexpected financial issue?

How will you handle the loss of a parent or loved one?

What will you do when your child or family does something outside your belief system?

These are situations that God knew were coming. He knew that you would have such a time that He made a way to help. That is why in Luke we are told not to lose heart!

In your life, is prayer essential or optional? Some of you might think, prayer is just talking, I don’t need to learn to how to pray. Wrong: We need to learn to pray.

Why: Because if we can do nothing without God, then that means we cannot pray without him, which is why the disciples came to Jesus. You don't see them in the Gospels asking Jesus to teach them to witness or teach or even heal. All you see is them saying "teach us to pray," because prayer is the core upon which our Christianity is dependent. We pray to show we always need God.

This leads to my second point, this is a relationship! It is not a dictatorship, and we are not puppets. God allows us to have freewill and wants to develop a deep and loving relationship with us.

The next effect our prayer life should have is to:

2. To Develop an Intimate Relationship with God

This is why the disciples came to Jesus and asked him to teach them to pray. It's not that they had never been taught to pray; they knew to pray in the synagogue and on the Sabbath, and they knew to pray in various circumstances and how to follow religious rituals. But they saw in Jesus something very different. They saw in his life something more than just a religious ritual. Prayer was something that literally nourished him. It was a necessity for him, and his life was dependent on it. The disciples saw the difference, and they said, "Lord, teach us to pray like you're praying."

So what does that type of prayer look like?

There are four aspects that from my reading that I see should be included in our prayers.

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A. Acknowledge God

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As the Psalmist says in Psalms 107:8 “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love

“ So we should begin our prayers with the acknowledgement that God is worthy of our prayer and our praise. This aligns your heart with God in the posture of humility. We should always begin thanking and acknowledging God.

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B. To Jesus and his intercession

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In each of our prayers we should also Close with the Name of Jesus. Jesus is our intercession and paid the ultimate price for use. By doing this, we acknowledge the power of the crucifixion and the gift that God’s grace to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

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C. With humility

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Humility does not allow you to focus on yourself. This creates a dependence on God and creates an environment of worship. This is why Jesus told the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector.

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D. With hope

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Ephesians 1:18

“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”

‌ As we pray, we must remember that we are praying to a living and active God. Due to this, we have a hope beyond all understanding. We must believe in the power or prayer, or we short-change the Power of God.

Ø Jesus responds to the disciples' request to teach them how to pray by starting with how to address God. We begin by saying "Father" (Luke 11:2).

o Prayer begins with a relationship with God, and the primary purpose of prayer is to deepen that relationship. It is when we forget that is the primary purpose of prayer that we stop praying except in case of emergency.

I am sure that many of us could tell about a time when we prayed hard for something and we didn't get the answer we wanted. It may have been a prayer for someone to be healed. It may have been a prayer to get a job or to have a baby or to have a relationship restored, and no matter how hard we prayed, the answer didn't come.

These are the hard things to understand when they are occurring. How many of you here tonight can see an answered prayer only through the rear-view mirror? I know I can. And being here tonight is it.

For many of you, you know a little of my back story regarding my life and path to salvation. It began late in life. It began in a pit of addiction and divorce. I can remember night after night crying out to God to save me and my marriage. I wanted no part of losing my family at that time. I could not see in those times that my life the way that I was living it was headed onto a path of destruction.

I begged God. I pleaded, yet for years I thought that He did not hear me.

Now, I can clearly see that not repairing that situation was the answer. That life would still look the way that it did then. There would have been no salvation. I would not have married someone that loves me and supports me. I would not have started attending church regularly with that person and grew in my relationship with Christ. I surely would not have ever had the desire to pursue my Divinity degree and be willing to stand here tonight.

In my rear-view mirror, I clearly see:

1. My timing was not Gods timing. I wanted it immediately; He wanted me to wait

2. His plan was bigger for me

3. Hitting rock bottom humbled me to be open to his plan.

With that thought in mind, I want to ask two questions:

Question 1: What if the purpose of prayer is knowing God, not getting answers? It's not that asking for what we want and bringing our needs before God is not a part of prayer; it is.

But what if prayer was intended to be much more than that? What if prayer wasn't just asking for him to bless us or keep us or protect us or help us?

Question 2: What if there's a depth of prayer that is much further beyond that?

Do you remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about prayer? When he said, "[W]hen you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them" (Matt. 6:7-8)? Then listen to what he said: "[F]or your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (v. 8). God knows what you need before you even ask him.

Now, If he already knows everything, what is the point of praying? If that is the question we're asking, then I think we're on the verge of breaking through into what prayer is really about.

What if God doesn't tell us to bring all of our needs to him so that we can inform him about everything we need? What if he already knows everything you need, and maybe there's an intimacy he has designed for prayer that supersedes what we want and what we need? What if the reason he told you to "go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen" (Matt. 6:6) is that there is a closeness God intends to take place in this thing called "prayer" that we will miss if we make it all about our list of things?

The heart of prayer was designed to seek someone out, specifically God! What if God has designed prayer for you to enjoy him and to enjoy being with him and to experience his goodness and his grace and his mercy personally?

What if the priority of prayer is time, not talk? The most important thing in the world is not your job, and it's not your finances, and it's not your football team, and it's not your family, and it's not your husband, and it's not your wife, and it's not your kids. The most important thing in the world is your personal, intimate relationship with Jesus. It is the most important thing in the world because everything in our lives flows from this one thing.

This model prayer is Jesus showing us why he was constantly going aside to be with the Father. It was because there was an intimacy that happened when he was alone with the Father in prayer that would affect every single thing he did. Jesus teaches us that in order to develop that kind of intimacy, we need to set a specific time alone with the Father.

Now I know the first thing that many of us think at this point is: Well, I pray all the time and I pray without ceasing. It says that somewhere in the Bible, doesn't it? So that's what I do. I don't need to set aside a concentrated time.

That is not true! What if you tried that in your marriage? My wife and I are together all the time. We talk all the time as we're running to here and there. We're always talking. But there's something about intimacy that just doesn't happen when you're constantly going here and there and everywhere. That's why we see Jesus setting aside a specific time when he was alone with the Father.

I truly believe there is something that happens in that time that God has designed for us to experience unique closeness with him. Continue to pray everywhere and pray all the time, but also set aside a time to go in your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen.

‌3. Surrender to God’s Plan

‌Philippians 4:6

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

On change in our thought process would be to begin to see prayer as something we “get to do”. God has designed prayer as the means for you and me to be involved in what he is doing in the world.

The power of prayer is in relationships. All my life, I have heard phrases such as "prayer changes things" or "there's power in prayer."

I want to make a strong statement and then explain it: Prayer, in itself, is powerless. The goal of this message is not just to get you to pray more—to be more structured, to be more organized, to be known as a person of prayer. If that is our goal, then we are no different than other religions. In fact, most of the followers of those other religions put Christians to shame by their devotion to prayer. If all we do is think that we need to pray more, then we may end up being just like other religions.

But if in our praying we connect with the living God who is the Lord and Creator of the universe, then we will be connected to a power that is infinite and unstoppable. Prayer in and of itself is powerless. But when prayer is a means by which we connect in a vital relationship with God, then we will see incredible power. God is the one who has all power—not our praying. The way we connect with that power is through surrender.

By "surrender," I mean that our attitude reflects that of Jesus in Gethsemane. We pour out our hearts and ask God for what we want, but ultimately, we say, "[Y]et not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). That is surrender, and it grows out of a relationship of absolute trust. As we recognize our desperate need for God, and as we seek to know him better and better, we will grow to understand that his plan is always best, and we will grow to the point of surrender to his will in all things. That is where life gets exciting, because that is where God begins to use us!

Conclusion

As I close, I would like to challenge you to examine your own prayer life. Is your prayer life having a positive effect in :

Consistently Reminding you that you Need God

Is it helping you develop an Intimate Relationship with God

Are you Surrendering to Gods Plan

If not, I hope tonight helps you see where the example can be found to change that!