What is Prayer?

Romans 8:26-27

I. Announcements

DNOW

Connected series starts tonight.

I. Introduction

a. Two things can directly impact the growth of the church and the impact of the Kingdom of God.

i. Students Reading Their Bibles

ii. Students Starting Actually to Pray

1. This does not mean praying for practice instead of praying for movement.

b.We get to connect with God in prayer. Prayer is a source of strength we need as believers.

c. We are starting a series called Connected so that we can reevaluate prayer in our lives.

i. The series is broken into four weeks, answering four major questions.

1. What is Prayer?

2. How do we pray?

3. When do we pray?

4. Why do we pray?

d. So how do we define prayer?

i. To borrow John Piper's Definition, prayer is "intentionally conveying a message to God."[i]

ii. We never want to take a person's words for granted, though, so we want to dive into Scripture to see where we find this truth.

iii. We must filter what we hear about God through the Word we have received from God.

II. Prayer is Conveying a Message

a. Read Romans 8:26–27 “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. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

b. Optional Illustration-Personal Story Relaying a Message

The story of the escape room with Kyle on his bachelor trip. We had to translate morse code for us to get a clue.

Now, why do I tell this story, because translation can be a powerful thing. We would watch as people's eyes lit up who encountered someone who spoke fluent Spanish. They felt they were fully communicating with someone in a different language.

Some people serve as translators across the globe as a ministry. We have a deep appreciation for those individuals because when a translation is done well, it allows us to communicate across barriers that were previously blocked. The beauty of prayer is that unlike our game, a real message is being communicated!

c. When you try and make a phone call, you need a phone. To send a piece of mail you need a mailbox.

i. Prayer’s beauty comes in our ability to reach out to God at all times. We can communicate with God in trouble, distress, or joy.

ii. When we feel a desire to reach out to God, we serve a God who is always with us.

d. Sometimes we feel the need to communicate, but we don't know what to deliver. The amazing thing is that the Holy Spirit Serves as the Translator.

i. We are allowed to ask things of God, and this is where the Holy Spirit intercedes that message.

e. Romans 8:26 tells us, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what to pray for as we ought.”

i. The Holy Spirit serves to assist us when we try to communicate with the Lord.

f. I see this same idea at work with babies and their parents.

i. If you have ever been around a baby trying to communicate, isn’t it funny how the parent seems to know exactly what the child is saying.

g. The Holy Spirit does a similar thing for us when we try and communicate our needs to God. Others will never be able to understand messages which are intended for our Father.

h. Prayer is conveying a message to the Lord. But what types of messages do we convey?

i. Thanksgiving: We show our appreciation for what God has done.

ii. Praise: We honor God by declaring His known traits. This is not always about what He has done, but who He is.

iii. Requests: We come asking for God to work in His way.

iv. Hurt: We express our pain or suffering, knowing we serve a God who listens and cares.

v. Sharing our heart: We communicate with God just as we communicate with all those we care for. When we love God, we know we can communicate without need. We seek to communicate.

III. Prayer must be intentional.

a. Our prayers to God are not to be passive things. We should seek God in prayer, and seek to speak with Him.

i. Prayer should not be something we hope happens.

ii. Prayer is not about hoping God figures things out, it’s about having a conversation and communicating.

b. We fall into a trap where we say, God knows everything, and He can see my heart, so I don’t need to pray.

i. There are people in my life who know I have needs, but I am responsible for sharing them.

c. It’s not about God knowing or not knowing, it’s about us WANTING a relationship. Relationships are built on communication, and prayer is a powerful tool given to us through the Holy Spirit.

i. We wouldn’t show up to a war without weapons, and yet we leave the house without prayer every day.

d. In verse 26 it says in our weakness, we do not know what to pray for as we ought, WHICH MEANS WE ARE PRAYING!

i. Now here is the cool part about prayer, we see it in many different forms in the Bible: Songs. Conversation, hallowed gatherings, spiritual times

ii. We say it again because it’s true: God is everywhere, so you can jump in and communicate with Him anytime.

e. Optional Illustration-Long Distance Communication

My relationship with Kyle. The dude from the picture. Lived together

What happens to our relationship, though, when we don't communicate? All of the work and love we have for each other as brothers is not diminished, but it does start to put us on different pages. When he shares a story with me about something that happened, I am not entirely confident about what he's talking about. When I try and share with him about something in my life, he has to ask more questions.

For my relationship with Jake to be at its best, I need to reach out to him intentionally. I need to want to communicate with him, and not just hope it happens. This is true in our prayer lives, as well.

IV. Prayer involves God.

a. Here's the deal with many Christ-followers: they too often throw up some pretty empty prayers because they lack faith.

1. Please, God help me with this test.

2. Please, God, help me feel better.

b. The only issue with this is that there is someone on the other side of the call.

i. What if I told you I had a celebrity’s cell phone number, all you had to do was call?

1. A famous coach? Life advice? Video Game Expert?

2. Would you call it? Why would you call?

ii. God is on the other side of the line of prayer. God has the power to create the universe, and He is excited to talk to you.

1. The most powerful being in all existence knows you by name and looks forward to talking with you.

c. Verse 27 says that the Spirit intercedes for us, the saints, according to the Will of God.

i. We ask because we believe, and we Love God. We speak to God because we think and love spending time with Him.

ii. If you believed God would say yes to anything you prayed, how often would you pray?

1. Let this be your view of God because it helps us understand how to handle a no.

2. When God says no to our desire, we know the Spirit has interceded and done things according to what is best for the will of God.

d. God loves His people, so He makes a way.

i. When we read the story of the Old Testament, we see a group of people who are continually trapped in sin.

ii. They follow God, they fall away, and this cycle happens over and over.

iii. When the people were in sin, there was one way to repent. They would head to the temple to have a sacrifice made. The priest would intercede for them to God.

iv. Jesus comes to be the ultimate sacrifice.

e. In Matthew 27:51, Jesus dies on the cross, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two. Matthew 27:51 “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”

i. We are no longer required to go through a priest to gain access to God. We are allowed freedom to connect with God.

ii. It gets stated often because it is a significant deal. The one who sits at the center of creation requests and desires to spend eternity with you.

iii. He is not waiting on us hand and knee, but He has made way for us to reach out and be in His presence.

f. Jesus died for us to gain this right.

i. When Jesus died, He said I'm taking all of their sins with me because I want to be with my people.

ii. When we stop and pray, when we intentionally convey a message to God, we join His presence.

V. Conclusion

a. Wrap Up the What

i. We came tonight to ask one question: “What is prayer”?

ii. We used the quote: “Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God.”

iii. In Romans 8, we see the Spirit’s ability to intercede for us. We pray to involve God and enter into His presence.

iv. We are not just throwing up words but connecting with God.

b. Gospel Presentation

i. The Holy Spirit is with believers ready to intercede on our behalf.

ii. Christ came and died to allow us the freedom to connect with God.

When we enter into a relationship with Christ, we gain this connection to God through prayer.