Family Fun Night-Prayer

INTRO/QUESTIONS

Get into groups of 5-8 people

Why is prayer so hard to do?

What would make prayer “easier” to do it more often?

What I am hoping will happen tonight, by the Help of the Holy Spirit working, is that we would be able to walk out these doors with a new perspective on prayer. That we would not feel like it is a random BINGO game that we may or may not get things. But that there would be a renewed passion in all of us to pray for one another, pray for our families and pray for our world.

Because, in my mind, and hopefully you see this or are starting to see this, prayer is a weapon that God has given the church to fight with. And if we keep thinking that someone, somewhere, and something else is going to work better than what God has called his people to do, then we are shooting ourselves in the foot with believing that.

So, let’s look at a passage in scripture where Jesus talked to his disciples about prayer. And more specifically, a parable so that we would not give up praying. Turn to Luke 18, but I need to people who like acting to come up here.

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

So you see, Jesus is telling them this for a specific reason. He isn’t trying to trick them or make them try to figure it out. He is doing this so that we would always pray and not lost heart. Why would he do that? Because he knows we would want to stop praying and lose heart in prayer. Maybe some of you are there tonight, you have given up even talking to God, or asking him for anything anymore. Guess what, he knew that would happen to you so he is wanting to help you. Isn’t that nice of him? So here is the parable.

2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

This is not a good judge. Doesn’t care what God thinks and doesn’t care about what man thinks. He is unmovable, a jerk so to speak. So when you think of a judge like this, are they going to always do what is right or just do whatever they want? Yea, so this situation is already not going well.

3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

Oh this is really bad, now we have a widow coming to the jerk faced judge and asking for justice. We don’t know what happened, but what Jesus is trying to point out here is that a widow was the lowest on the social scale. You were on the bottom of the totem pole. You were the last in line, you were the last to be picked for the baseball team. Do you get what I’m saying? So Jesus is saying, look, terrible judge here and terrible social situation here. What good could possibly happen? Let’s read and see what happens.

4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ”

So he gives her what she is asking for not because of any other reason than what? Kept bothering him. Kept showing up. Kept asking. No money under the table to make him do something, no change of heart by the judge, just because of persistance and constantly asking.

And that’s the parable, but Jesus wants to make sure they understand this parable. Even though it is simple enough, they are going into a difficult time where Jesus is about to be killed. And they are going to have a temptation to lose heart. But Jesus wants them to keep praying.

6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

There is a lot we could talk about here but I want us to focus on verse 8 where Jesus gives a little challenge. A little jab of competition to them. To persevere and to keep going. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Why would he not ask, will he find people praying? Isn’t that what he is asking for? For them to keep praying? Maybe faith and prayer have a connection that we have forgotten. If our faith is in a good and loving God that will give justice to us, should we not be crying out to him day and night? If we believe that he is a God that hears us and wants to act in our lives, shouldn’t there be faith and courage to ask for things and believe that he will do it? But, when we have a wrong view of God, like a mean old judge, prayer will feel more like BINGO than it does like faith. It will feel like a wishing well, not a confidence.

So how do we do this? How do we as individuals and a church continue to grow in persistance? How do we keep praying and have a right view of God, and not lose heart? Well we could do a 2 hour seminar on who God is, maybe a 7 week study on the goodness of God, or…have faith that God is good, wants us to keep asking and keep seeking and keep knocking. I’m not against those other things, but sometimes we just need to do it and pray like he is going to do it, right? So that’s what we are going to do for the last 5 minutes in your groups.

These wi.l be 15-30 second prayers. I know we could probably spend more time on each of these but I’m wanting you to get costco samples tonight. You taste and see and go home with it.

Let’s pray out loud, let’s pray boldly, lets not give into fear.

Parent’s first- warm up.

HELP US TO TAKE HEART, KEEP PRAYING, NOT GIVE UP FOR GOD TO WORK IN OUR LIVES.

A KID OR TWO

JUSTICE “THINGS TO BE MADE RIGHT” IN OUR HOMES, COMMUNITY, NEIGHBORHOOD, JOBS (PEACE, PATIENCE, SALVATION)

ANYONE WHO HASN’T PRAYED YET

JUSTICE FOR OUR WORLD. WARS TO STOP, PEACE, JESUS TO RETURN

PRAY THIS LAST ONE TOGETHER

JESUS, WE PRAY THAT WE WOULD BE PEOPLE WHO HAVE FAITH WHEN YOU RETURN. HELP US TO STAY FAITHFUL IN PRAYER, TO NOT LOSE HEART, AND TO KEEP ASKING, SEEKING, AND KNOCKING FOR YOU TO WORK IN AND THROUGH US. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.