Why Do We Need to Pray?

[Brief intro to series.... November 2023 - Ignite Conference....5 conferences… across Canada....sponsored by EFC and other organizations with the hope of igniting a movement of prayer with our country.... with hope of cultivating a deeper culture of prayer w/i our congregation.

Ministry Priority: As a community dependent on God’s empowering presence, we devote ourselves to communal and individual prayer that delights in His presence and persistently petitions Him to act in our world.

[Introduction to H.C....written mid 1500’s....during the beginning season of the Protestant Reformation.....intended as a summary statement of various biblical teachings and doctrines.....by 1620 this document was adopted by the Synod of Dordt....a gathering of the then Dutch Reformed church in the city of Dordtrecht in the Netherlands....and at this Synod it was decided that this document be a preaching/teaching tool for the churches....divided up into 52 Lord’s Days......Sin, Salvation, Service....Guilt Grace Gratitude..... 10 commandments, Lord’s Prayer]

Luke 11:1–13 NIV

1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

116 Q. Why do Christians need to pray?

A. Because prayer is the most important part

of the thankfulness God requires of us.^1

And also because God gives his grace and Holy Spirit

only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly,

asking God for these gifts and thanking him for them.^2

^1 Ps. 50:14-15; 116:12-19; 1 Thess. 5:16-18

^2 Matt. 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-13

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The passage we read from Luke 11 contains the story of Jesus praying with his disciples. And after he finished praying His disciples ask him “Lord, teach us to pray.” Now I invite us to imagine how that might have gone. Perhaps they saw Jesus praying on his own and sensed his passion. Or maybe he was praying with them and there was something about the way he prayed that captivated them. Perhaps there was something uncomfortably new in his praying or invitingly authentic.. I’m not sure what it was in particular....but something seemed to prompt the disciples to say to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

I guess the disciples recognized, that there was something that all of us recognize, when we live in the presence of Jesus Christ. When we live in the presence of Christ and live under His word, then we recognize we are all on a journey of learning to pray. All of us are part of the school of prayer, and that’s a school we’re in for life.

Almost 20 years ago, my wife Kim and I along with about 16 other pastors and their spouses visited the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a large church in Brooklyn NY. We had the opportunity to meet with their lead pastor, Pastor Jim Cymbala, and also to participate in their Tuesday night prayer meeting......continue.....

It was during that prayer meeting, after Pastor Cymbala finished his meditation, that we were all invited to pray with one, or two, or three people who were sitting around us. His teaching dealt with Joel 3 and Acts chapter 2, where we read about the promises of God pouring out His Spirit on all people. And he invited all of us together, with one or two or three other people for the filling of the Holy Spirit, on the church and on us as individuals. And so all of us did that. I met with I think 3 other gentlemen and we kind of held hands together and began praying. Not necessarily just for each other but just in response to the teaching. In fact all the people there started praying, it was such a loud prayer, kind of like a concert of prayer, that we had a hard time hearing each other at times.

And there was a man in my little group, who was, no doubt of Spanish descent, I could hear it on his accent, but he had a powerful voice. He was just a short little man and he prayed with such authority and such conviction and such passion. He prayed through the promises of scripture. He knew scripture well; they just rolled off of his tongue, passages and scripture. He prayed with such authority that I found myself quietly in my spirit saying, “Lord, teach me how to pray.”

The section of the catechism that we are dealing with is really written, I think, in response to this very request. We need to be taught to pray. The catechism wants to teach us how to pray. And it begins by asking us the question, “Why do we need to pray?” I honestly feel that when I went to Brooklyn Tabernacle, that I saw the answer in the catechism, I saw it, I experienced it, I was with people who knew this answer, thought they probably, most of them have never ever heard of the Heidelberg Catechism.

[most important part of the thankfulness....filled with Grace and Holy Spirit]

I’ve quoted from this book before, but again this morning I’d like to share a few of the stories that Jim Cymbala writes about in his excellent book, “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire”. You ought to know a little bit about the history of Brooklyn Tabernacle. Cymbala has pastored it for more than 50 years. He came in the 70’s when the church was seemingly dying. There were 20 members in the church, they were in the heart of Brooklyn, all the white folks were leaving Brooklyn at that time and it was in the heart of a district that was ridden with crime and poverty. He begins the book by sharing an opening story, which he said was kind of symbolic of what this church was going through. He said, “One Sunday I was preaching there, as a guest pastor”, because his father-in-law had invited him to just preach there a couple of times, he was pastoring another church in Newark. And one Sunday when he was there, he could sense that this place was filled with people that had a lot of despair and many of them were just empty, broken. One time while he was preaching one of the pews cracked and fell on the floor, and six people with it. He said that was just a picture for me of what this congregation was experiencing. He felt God’s call to pastor this church fill time and that call came at one point just shortly after he was there again as a guest pastor.

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And just after the service the pastor of that church, who was already there, said to Cymbala, “I’m resigning, I’m quitting, tell your Dad”, his Dad was kind of a Bishop over there, “tell your Dad that I’m done”. He basically said, “I’m leaving tonight. I can’t be here anymore. And by the way you need to know that I’m pretty sure that one of the ushers is helping himself to some of the money in the collection plate, because the money that comes in every Sunday never matches what is written on people’s tithing envelope.”

So, Cymbala did began preaching there, if fact, he pastored this church and another church in Newark for about a year. Had a hectic schedule, he describes that a little bit in his book. At one point in the book, after describing this hectic pace, after feeling completely deflated and defeated, and not knowing what to do with this congregation that he felt God was calling him to. He writes this, “On one of those Sunday night’s early on, this was about a year after, I was so depressed by what I saw and even more by what I felt in my spirit, that I literally could not preach, five minutes into my sermon I began chocking on the words, tears filled my eyes, gloom engulfed me. All I could say to the people was

“I’m sorry, I can’t preach in this atmosphere. Something is terribly wrong, I don’t know what to say, I can’t go on. Carol, that is his wife, Carol would you play something on the piano and would the rest of you just come to the altar here. If we don’t see God help us, I don’t know.”

And with that I just quit, it was embarrassing but I couldn’t do anything else. The people did as I asked, I leaned into the pulpit with my face planted in my hands and I sobbed. Things were quiet at first, but soon the Spirit of God came down upon us.

People began to call upon the Lord, their words motivated by the spirit within, “God, help us!” Carol played the old hymn, “I need You, Oh, I need you.” And we sang along. A tide of intercession arose, suddenly a young usher came running down the center of the aisle and threw himself on the altar. He began to cry as he prayed. When I placed my hand upon his shoulder he looked up, the tears just streaming down his face as he said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, please forgive me.” Instantly I realized that he was apologizing for taking money from the offering plate. I stood speechless for a moment bewildered by his unexpected confession. It was our first spiritual breakthrough. I had not had to play detective, confront the culprit with his misdeed or pressure him to confess. Here in a single night, during a season of prayer, Problem No 1 (out of seemingly thousands) was solved. That evening, when I was at my lowest, confounded by obstacles, bewildered by the darkness that surrounded us, unable to even continue preaching. I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weakness, in fact makes room for his power.”

When I hear that story, I hear God bringing His grace and His Holy Spirit to people when they pray. Exactly what the catechism says God will do. But that’s point 2 of the answer and I’m getting a little ahead of myself. We should get back to point 1.

The first reason that the catechism gives for why Christians need is pray is because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness that God requires of us.

Psalm 50:14–15 NIV

14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, 15 and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

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The most important part....

Now I need to explain that just a little bit. Prayer is not just the most important way to say thank you to God. That’s not what the catechism says. It is an important way, of course, to say thank you to God, but prayer isn’t just about us saying thank you God, thank you for health, thank you for jobs, thank you for friends, thank you for church, thank you for children. It isn’t just about that, and that’s not what the catechism is saying.

Prayer is the most important part of a life that is fueled by gratitude, The Christian life you might say is a grateful life, that’s the heart of the catechism, that’s the heartbeat of the message of the catechism. We come to known our sin and our misery because God’s law shows it to us and His Holy Spirit impresses upon us our sin. We then hear about what God has done for our sin and for us. How God has paid the price, how he has won forgiveness and assurance. How God imparts His spirit into us, fuels us with a faith that seeks him. And our response to this gift is a life that is fueled by gratitude. And prayer is the most important part of a life that is fueled by gratitude, is what the catechism is saying. For the Christian to live in Christ is to pray. That simple.

I saw this at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I felt like I saw people filled with this sense of how important it is to pray. Later on in his book, Cymbala says after he had come back from a sort of spiritual retreat. Prompted by a very harsh bronchial condition. He went to Florida, rested because he was so depleted, got a little bit better and while he was there heard God speaking to him and when he came back from Florida he said I couldn’t wait to tell them something far more important, than about my just getting physically better.

Brothers & Sisters I really feel that I’ve heard from God about the future of our church. While I was away I was calling out to God to help us. To help me understand what he wants from us and I believe I’ve heard an answer. It’s not fancy, or profound or spectacular but I want to say to you today with all the seriousness I can muster from this day on the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church. What happens on Tuesday night will be the gauge by which we will judge success or failure, because that will be the measure by which God blesses us.

Why do we need to pray? Because prayer is the most important part of a grateful life. Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. As we talked with Cymbala in his study, just before that prayer meeting, he reiterated again, that what happens tonight, this Tuesday night is the most important part of what happens here among us as a congregation. It’s still the barometer of our church.

Why pray? Because the catechism says that prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness that God requires.

On the Sunday that Cymbala shared that quote about what he thought God was telling them to do, telling their church to become, there happened to be a guest Pastor there, which he said was very unusual in this tiny congregation, and he was all the way from Australia or New Zealand, he wasn’t sure because he has never met the man again. And as is kind of custom in such a small setting, he found out that there was a guest Pastor; he invited that guest pastor to come forward and to share a few words. And he writes, this is what the man said, he made just one comment, “I heard what your Pastor said, and here is something to think about. You can tell how popular a church is by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular a preacher or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night, but you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.” And with that he walked off the platform, that was all and they never saw him again.

Why is prayer so important? Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And because God gives His grace and His Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually, groaning inwardly, asking God for these gifts, and thanking Him for them.

Prayer can’t be taught by seminars, or symposiums or even good sermons. Prayer is learned when it is birthed out of need. When you and I come to a place and we say I can’t live for another moment without communing with my God, or my Father. Its easy for us in the comfort of our lives to live believing that we don’t really need to pray with that kind of urgency.... I know this can be true in my own life....and I imagine in can be true for many of us....We live with the kind of comforts and conveniences that distract us from the urgency of prayer..... Thinking that well maybe that people like that in Brooklyn have so much more to pray for. I mean look at their city, it’s filled with crack addicts, there is abject poverty right in their neighbourhood, of course they need to pray!

We need to pray for our children and grandchildren who are leaving or have left the church....Lord, have mercy! If God doesn’t get hold of them where will they end up?

Some of our marriages are having a hard time. I know that there are people in our midst that are dying.

We need to pray for our young families. Raising children today has all kinds of challenges. The levels of anxiety and depression among teenagers is at unprecedented levels. Parents are struggling to meet financial challenges, living in a city that is becoming more and more expensive.

We need to pray for our society, our governments, our schools, and our institutions. On issues of marriage, gender, sanctity of life, drug related deaths our culture is struggling.

I know that we live in a community that needs to hear the gospel. I know that we live in a world that is ridden with terrorist’s attacks. Don’t tell me, we don’t need to pray! Together! Because God’s is building a spiritual house.

And prayer is the way that God gives his grace and his Holy Spirit to those who pray continually and groan inwardly.

We need to pray, because the Father’s house is a house of prayer and He longs to pour out His grace and His Holy Spirit on His people. He loves to pour out His grace and His Holy Spirit on His people because they mean so much to Him. And that’s us! He loves us! And he wants to fill our lives with Grace and Power...

Prayer...