Prayer: Conversing With God

Prayer is basic to every person.

We often say or often hear it said: “I’m keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.” That’s become a cliche; an overused expression that can lack meaning.

I recently heard an acquaintance say that she was an atheist, but then stated to someone later: “I’m keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.” I thought: “What!?”

You don’t have to be overly religious to know the value of prayer. It can be done in your living room, at your bedside, in the car or while on a walk. It can be done in a church or in a chapel.

Howard Rice, in his book, Reformed Spirituality, states:

“Prayer is a nearly universal human activity. From earliest times human beings sought ways to be in relationship with the mysterious and awesome powers that were of life-and-death importance for them. Something inherent in the human spirit, when threatened by the unknown, cries out to whatever unseen powers there may be that seem to control the world. All prayer thus arises from the human sense of the transcendent, some power beyond what can be seen and touched.” Howard L. Rice, Reformed Spirituality, 71.

Prayer is quite simple. Sometimes it is not what you say, as much as it is directing it to the right One. An infant might not know how to articulate his need, but can point and moan with hunger and his mother knows what he wants.

It was the 16th century English Puritan John Bunyan, who who was imprisoned for his Christian, who said: “The best prayers often have more groans than words.”

This morning, I’d like to present you with some thoughts on prayer as we make another stop along the pathway to spiritual growth. First, let’s acknowledge...

We come with different attitudes to the time of prayer.

We can come with an attitude of hunger. Psalm 27:8 “8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”” See your daily prayer time as an appointment with God Almighty.

Or we can come with the need to be silent. Psalm 46:10 : “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”” We must come with an attitude of reverence and awe for who He is.

Or we can arrive with an attitude of desperation as found in Psalm 63:1 “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Then there are those attitudes that keep us from prayer. They are the following:

Spiritual laziness; It does not fit our wants.

Unbelief; “The fool has said in his heart: ‘there is no God.’” But we often live like it.

Anger towards God; Maybe it is over an event or something that has happened to you that the thought of God repulses you.

Spiritual blindness; Simply not seeing the need.

Sin. This is where we avoid God because of something we’ve done.

In all of these the answer is repentance and humility. There's an old Anglican prayer that is pretty simple, but so appropriate:

“Father, what we know not, teach us;

what we have not, give us;

what we are not, make us;

for the sake of your Son our Savior. Amen.”

Come to prayer and find mercy!

In other words, we need correction in our efforts to pray. And we must recover that prayer is approaching a throne of grace.

Hebrews 4 gives us a unique motivation to pray. It presents a bit of a guarantee that may surprise.

Hebrews was a letter written to Christians who were thinking about reverting back to their old Jewish way of life; they were about to abandon Christ and resort to living by the law. And so the author of this letter goes to great lengths to tell of the preeminence of Jesus.

Jesus is better. That’s the theme of Hebrews. Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets. Jesus is better than the Old Testament law with its elaborate system of sacrifices. Jesus is better than Moses, the giver of the law. Jesus is better than the angels, the divine messengers.

And as it relates to prayer, Jesus is better than the priests of the Old Testament who were sinful themselves. Jesus is our ultimate high priest who has never sinned, yet was tempted in every way that we are. And so we can BOLDLY approach His throne to find grace and help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV)

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The following diagram depicts what takes place when we meet with the Lord.

God, through the Holy Spirit, speaks to our hearts and minds through the study of Scripture. John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

In turn, as we offer up our prayers to God, the Holy Spirit assists us with our prayers. Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

To this, the 16th century Reformer John Calvin states:

“God’s throne is not only a throne of majesty, but a throne of grace. Through Jesus’ name we have boldness to appear openly before that throne, in order both to obtain mercy and to find grace when we need it.” (John Calvin, Truth for All Time, 95).

Thus, we are encouraged to pray the many different types of prayers found in the Bible.

There are different types of prayer in the Bible.

Consider the following:

There is praise. This is when we proclaim who God is to Himself. Hebrews 13:15 says: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

Then there is thanksgiving. This is described in Ephesians 5:20 “...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Then there is confession, where we agree with the Holy Spirit over our sin. Psalm 38:18 “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.”

And there is prayer for others. Some call this intercessory prayer. An example of this is found in 1 Samuel 12:23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.”

And finally there is prayer for personal needs. Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” That bread can take on the form of wisdom. James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

What is your need? Whatever it is, you can never give up praying. Jesus taught his disciples to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1). He wants you to persevere in prayer.

Prayer is the key to peace. As the old hymn states:

“Oh, what peace we often forfeit; oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”

Whereas God has given us a tremendous cure for anxiety in Philippians 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV)

“...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

God knows what you need!

When Hudson Taylor was sailing to China to begin his missionary work, his ship was in great danger. The wind had died, and the current was carrying them toward sunken reefs which were close to islands inhabited by cannibals—so close they could see them building fires on the shore.

Everything they tried was to no avail. In his journal Taylor recorded what happened next: The Captain said to me, “Well, we have done everything that can be done.” A thought occurred to me, and I replied, “No, there is one thing we have not done yet.” “What is that?” he queried. “Four of us on board are Christians. Let us each retire to his own cabin, and in agreed prayer ask the Lord to give us immediately a breeze.”

Taylor prayed briefly and then, certain that the answer was coming, went up on the deck and asked the first officer to let down the sails. “What would be the good of that?” he answered roughly. I told him we had been asking a wind from God; that it was coming immediately. Within minutes the wind did began to blow, and it carried them safely past the reefs.

Taylor wrote: Thus God encouraged me while landing on China’s shores to bring every variety of need to Him in prayer, and to expect that He would honour the name of the Lord Jesus and give the help each emergency required.

Knowing that our prayers touch the heart of our loving Father in Heaven and that He can meet any need, we should be confident that He will hear and answer when we cry out to Him. We cannot come away unchanged.