01.29.2023 - Prayer that Moves Us - The Prayer Without Words

Scripture: Psalm 15

Psalm 15 NRSV

A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? 2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; 3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors; 4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt; 5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.

The Prayer Without Words

What makes something Holy?

What makes something Holy?

When you think of the song O Holy Night, places like Mt. Sinai, or things like the Tabernacle (that giant tent where the Israelites used to worship and offer sacrifices to God), what do they have in common? They are examples of God’s presence among God’s people.

Many of us go through life looking for magical experiences where we get goosebumps, feel a kind of electrical tingling in the air, and are surprised by unexpected beauty and pleasurable experiences. Those experiences are wonderful blessings and usually short-lived. However, they are different from Holy experiences. When you read the accounts of people in the Bible who had Holy experiences, you realize quickly that they are not always pleasurable.

Being on a boat in the ocean during the middle of a fierce sea storm is not a pleasurable experience. However, Jonah, the disciples, and John Wesley in the early 1700s all had such an experience. Jonah was terrified and overcome with guilt for running from God. The disciples were overwhelmed and cried out to Jesus, who was asleep in the boat with them. John Wesley was also overwhelmed and thought he would die, and he witnessed a group of foreign Christians singing peaceful hymns during the storm. Those were all Holy moments that changed lives forever.

Many bible dictionaries describe the concept of holiness in two kinds of ways. The first is that holiness is the quality of being separated out for particular use. For example, my mom had scissors that were only used for sewing. We got in big trouble when we used those scissors to cut paper into snowflakes to hang around as artwork. Those scissors were separated out for a particular work and not to be used for any common task. To be holy means to be set aside for God’s use, not just for anything. God calls each of us to be holy, not just pastors. He has particular work for each of us to do.

The second idea of holiness is connected to a concept of glory and a “weighty presence” of God when we experience God. Sometimes the air feels thicker. The ancient worshippers would fill the worship spaces with incense and smoke to help illustrate this idea. Chances are, you’ve experienced this kind of atmospheric heaviness, and it may not have been in a church service. We often sense God’s presence the most when He is calling us to get up and do something, whether that is to get up and share Jesus with someone, to check and see how someone is doing, or sometimes even to hold on for your life because if God doesn’t save you nothing will.

We know that the way we pray affects our lives. So today, we are going to look at how the way we live shapes our prayers.

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Do the right thing

Today's psalm is short and to the point: Do the right thing. If you want to be in God’s house, in God’s presence, and be God’s people - Do as He tells you to do. If only it were that easy.

Here is David laying it down plain and clear the Do’s and Don’t’s for those who want to follow Jesus.

Do walk blamelessly and do what is right,

Do speak the truth from your heart

Don’t slander with your tongue,

Don’t do any evil to your friends or your neighbors.

Do despise the wicked and honor those who fear the Lord.

Don’t lend money at interest or take a bribe against the innocent.

Reading this psalm makes me feel like the rich, young ruler who came to Jesus and told him, “Yeah, I’ve been pretty good my whole life. No major sins come to mind. And Jesus, let’s agree to forget all of Middle school... I haven’t murdered anyone, at least, not that I’m aware of.”

But I’ve not walked blamelessly. I’ve not always done what is right. Sometimes I keep the truth to myself and lie by omission. I’ve spoken ill of many people, probably this week, and some of them I’ve never even met outside from seeing a short clip on the news. I have neglected friends and neighbors when they needed help. Most days, I try to ignore the wicked, and I rarely go out of my way to honor anyone. The only thing I can cling to is that I can’t remember giving anyone a loan ever, but I wouldn’t trust my memory on that. I’ve probably been given a bribe and didn’t even know it at the time.

It is one thing to say to do the right thing and another thing to do it.

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Words and Actions

What happens when the words of our prayers and our actions don’t match? We have a choice.

We can choose to change our actions to match our prayers. For example, if I pray to God for help reading my Bible every day, but I use my free time to binge-watch a new television show, it won’t work out well. So I can choose to change my actions and use the time I usually spend watching TV reading my bible, using my actions to receive the answer to my prayer.

Or, we can choose to change our prayers. For example, I could pray for opportunities to serve God. But if I refuse to take any chances that come my way, I will find myself stuck again. So, instead of changing my actions, I may quit praying for ways to serve.

So, it is true that if we don’t back up our prayers with our actions, we may not receive the answers that God gives us for those prayers. And, even worse, if we continue to do that over time, we may quit praying those prayers altogether.

Think about that for a moment. Every time we pray, whether it is for the forgiveness of our sins or to forgive others, prayers for healing, or even prayers thanking God for the blessings He has given us, there are actions that we will take that will either support those words or contradict them. We all struggle to do the right thing every day, and we all discover moments when our words and actions do not line up. But we don’t stay in that place of contradiction. Instead, we either choose to change our actions to match prayers of faith and grow closer to God, or we change our prayers to match our unfaithful actions and grow away from God.

How we receive God’s answer in prayers with our actions, our prayer without words, influences the prayers we pray with words, which then affects our faith. So, when we pray for faith, God gives us what we need to grow, and then we can respond to receive or reject those blessings every day.

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Praying for Guidance

We either walk toward or walk toward God one step, one choice, and one prayer at a time. Sometimes when we feel stuck and are not growing, it is because our actions contradict the words we are praying, like trying to hit the accelerator and the brake at the same time. Those prayers don’t move us. Instead, they leave us stuck and frustrated, and eventually, we give up, put it in neutral, and let the world come in and pull us away from God.

What can we do about this? How can we get through our contradictions and grow closer to God?

First, we must admit that we don’t have all the answers. We don’t know the right thing to do in every circumstance. We can learn from scripture, talk with other Christian teachers and mentors, or look for answers elsewhere, but we will never know enough for every situation. So we need to pray to God for the Holy Spirit to give us the guidance we need.

Second, we need to follow God’s guidance when we receive it. If we start with the small things, they will build our faith up so that we will trust Him more with the bigger things that come our way.

You have probably heard the phrase, “Jesus take the wheel.” It is a prayer that we often pray when we find ourselves in trouble and need God’s help getting out. The problem with that prayer is that God doesn’t come in and take us over. Instead, he gives us the guidance and the choice to follow His instructions. He won’t grab the wheel, but He is happy to give us directions on where to turn.

But for that guidance to work, we must follow more than just turning directions. We also need to follow His directions for the gas and brake pedal. When He tells us to go, we need to go and stop when He tells us to stop. We need to follow His directions regarding how fast to go. All of it matters, and we cannot figure it out on our own, but we don’t have to. We can ask God for help with everything and then trust and follow Jesus with both our words and our actions. We need to stop asking Jesus to take control of us and start taking His guidance on what we do with both our hands and our feet.

David ends this prayer by claiming that those who have faithful deeds will not be moved. We want to intentionally move closer to Jesus. We don’t want to be pushed or pulled away from Him. God calls us to be a church that is faithful in our prayers for others as well as for ourselves, and each of our prayers will have words that connect us with God and hands and feet that keep us firmly on the path following Jesus.

Sunday school starts in a few minutes. We are also having a hymn-singing service this evening at 6 pm.