Sermon Tone Analysis

Main Idea

Prayer is a means by which God works out His ends and changes us in the process

Outline & Passage

Why is devoted prayer a core value?

I - Because it's effectual

II - It honors God

III - It’s thoroughly biblical

IV - It changes us

I - Because it's effectual

Effectual means that it actually has an effect; that prayer actually does something.

We should never view prayer as simply a religious practice or ritual that acts as a coping mechanism.

Have you ever met someone who thinks that way?

Who, if asked what they believe, responds that it is a personal thing that is between them and God alone?

Someone, who might answer the question of abortion, let’s say, as a moral wrong, but they also don’t believe it is right to impose that belief on others?

Do you see how that belief doesn’t have any real affect outside the individual.

I think it’s easy for us to think that way about prayer as well.

Sometimes, we act like God is our great psychologist in the sky to be there for us to unload on.

As New Testament believers, we believe that prayer actually makes a difference in the world (and within us), because we are praying to a God who is involved in the affairs of this world.

When we pray, if we are praying biblically, then we pray with faith that God is capable and willing to respond to those prayers of His people.

And to go one step further, prayer is actually a means by which God brings human history toward its intended destination, and is both a privilege and a duty for believers.

If you need textual proof, then look no further than James 5:16:

James 5:16 (ESV)

16 The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

The immediate parallel this verse draws is with a story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17, where he fervently prayed that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t for 3.5 years!

And afterward, when he prayed for it to rain, it rained.

This example was given to give confidence to those who pray for the sick to be healed and for wayward believers to repent and turn back from a life of sin.

That seems to scream the truth that prayer does something and it does it powerfully.

Why would we neglect something that is powerful and effective?

A builders doesn’t reach for a hand-held screwdriver when he has a 40-volt, batter-operated drill in his toolbox.

Neither should we neglect the power of prayer.

So, we don’t pray so that we feel better or more spiritual.

It’s not simply an internal phenomenon that never plays out in reality.

To pray for those reasons is to miss the point entirely.

We pray to a very relational and intimately involved God who cares about outcomes.

Prayer is effectual in this world, then, for two main reasons:

God hears us

God hears the prayers of his people.

This is best seen in the popular verse from 2 Chronicles, which says:

If you have ever read through the Bible, then you will likely remember a half-dozen other examples of this, because scripture is stuffed to the rafters with examples of how God hears the prayers His people.

That should give us great confidence, because if God is attentive to His people, and He is in command over all things, then we have the active ear of the most powerful and loving being in existence.

That is a pretty good deal!

But, we need to ask in the right ways, because there are certainly wrong ways.

James reminds us that many times we don’t have answered prayers because we fail to ask God int he first place, so let’s not make that mistake.

If we want to see change, we certainly must not fail to ask for it.

But more than that, we need to ask with the right motives and desires, because we can easily pray for our own passions instead of God’s will to be done.

This should translate into confidence in your prayer life as well.

You aren’t just reciting a list of wants and must-haves.

What do you want to see God do?

Ask Him according to His will and from a place of pure motives and move forward knowing that the Almighty God has heard your plea!

God works in this world

Secondly, God works in this world by answering those prayers.

Again, God isn’t some unpredictable deity who may or may not give a rip about your prayer and petitions depending on what type of mood He is in.

Or first stroke of confidence is in the knowledge that He hears us.

The next layer of confidence comes when we realize that He actually answers them!

Now, sometimes He answers in ways we don’t want… like when His answer is NO when we want a YES.

We need to accept that no is an answer and trust it is for the best.

God heard the cries of His people and delivered them out of Egypt.

God delivered David countless times from his enemies, including the active King of Israel.

In the book of Jonah, God delayed judgement when the people of Nineveh cried out in repentance.

In 2 Chronicles, we see a similar condition: If my people pray, humble themselves, and repent, He will relent, forgive, and heal.

Have you ever had a prayer answered?

What was your response?

What did it do to your faith?

So, that is rule #1.

Prayer actually does something.

That is key, but there is much more...

II - It honors God

Even if we didn’t receive benefits from prayer (which we do), shouldn’t this be enough to pray?

Shouldn’t we be about the business of living our lives in a way that pleases God simply because He is worthy of it?

It honors Him by pleasing Him

Scripture paints an interesting illustration of prayer.

It’s likened to a pleasing aroma that rises to Him like burning incense.

Take a look at this progression:

In the OT - the burnt & drink offerings along with incense offered on the alter of incense were pleasing aromas to the Lord.

Even through the offerings meant temporary removal of sin, it was still an activity that brought great pleasure to God, because it was a purification of His people.

Ps 51:16-17: The offering changes.

God is now more pleased with the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart (instead of the ritualistic sacrifices).

Ps 141:2: Instead of actual incense being offered, prayer goes up to God like incense and the lifting up of hands be like the lifting of the hand for the evening sacrifice

Eph 5:1-2: Jesus’ sacrifice is the fragrant offering that is pleasing to God

Rev 5:8: Describes the Lamb’s worthiness to open the scroll in heaven and we see the prayers of the saints offered to God as incense by the four living creatures during the heavenly worship service.

Their prayer lives are like a gift presented to God.

This makes me think about how utterly delighted I am when I walk into a bakery and become enveloped in the smells of fresh-baked bread and coffee.

I could spend hours there!

Think of your prayers as giving God the same delight.

The testimony of scripture is pretty clear.

Whereas animal sacrifices, wine, and incense offerings were pleasing to God because of their affect (meaning the cleansing and sanctifying of His people), the same is true of Jesus’ sacrifice (because it was the fulfillment of the entire sacrificial system), and of the prayers of His people.

All are seen as willing sacrifices that are pleasing aromas around the throne.

Did you ever think of your prayers in that way?

Doesn’t that appropriately take the focus of prayer life off of us and place it on giving God something wonderful?

Don’t you want to give God that great pleasure?

It’s honors God as Father

God is our Father and He is delighted when His children want to talk to Him.

Most of us can understand that, right?

One of the best moments in my day is when I come home and one of my kids makes eye contact with me as I walk through the door, runs toward me, screams “DADDY!!”, and jumps in my arms.

There is nothing better!

As a Dad, I love when my kids want to be with me.

Right now, they still want me around.

They want me to play with them, snuggle with them, read with them, and tuck them in at night.

They want my presence in their lives.

Don’t you think it’s the same and even more so with our Heavenly Father?