The Power of Prayer: Unlocking Heaven’s Door

A few years ago I was given a key to this church building. The idea was that I now had access to this building when I needed or wanted it. I didn’t have to sit and wait for someone else to let me in the church.

This might seem like a little thing but it made things easier. If I got here for a meeting before others I could go ahead and go inside. If I left after others, no one had to stay and lock up for me. It was nice to be trusted with a key.

The title of this sermon is about unlocking heaven’s door. I don’t mean to imply that you are locked out of heaven. You aren’t.

But there is a key which helps us to keep this door open in our lives and that key is prayer.

Prayer is something every Christian should be constantly doing. Let’s look at some passages that help us understand the necessity of prayer.

1. Persistent Prayer Pays

Here is a question that has been asked a lot.

You probably have heard it and maybe even asked it. That question is, what is God’s will?

Paul answers this question in this passage. Read this familiar passage with me.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 NASB 2020

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

The will of God is that we rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in everything.

Paul is making a shift in this letter from how we should be toward our brothers and sisters to how we should act towards God.

Rejoice always means we should have an attitude of joy toward God but that attitude should be demonstrated. Some of the grumpiest looking people can be seen in church. You have probably met them at some time. The ones who say they have joy but you wish they would tell that to their face.

Pray without ceasing. I know this one gets a bad rap at times. How can we always be in prayer. If I am always praying then I can never listen to anyone.

This points out a problem about prayer and that is, we tend to think prayer is us talking. Prayer is a conversation with God, not just a monologue. But it is also an attitude toward God.

It is an attitude of reverence. It is an attitude of wanting to spend time with God. It is an attitude that we should always be looking to God.

One comment that has been said to me by many different people is that I can turn anything into a sermon illustration. It has been said with a tone of complaint by some though.

To a degree this is true but not always. The way it works is when I am thinking about, when I have my spiritual ears, mind and heart looking toward God then things in His creation help remind me of Him. And it is through that attitude that I can “sermonize” what seems just ordinary.

I wish I could tell you I was like this from waking to sleep but I am not. However, that is the attitude that we should have toward God, an attitude of prayer.

And it is only through a prayerful attitude that we can give thanks in everything.

It is God’s will that we focus on Him with our joy, our prayer and our thanks.

2. Prayer Quells Worry

We are going to focus on two verses in this passage but I want to read the section they are contained in first.

Philippians 4:4–9 NASB 2020

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

I wanted to read the whole section because we read Paul giving us the same exhortations.

Rejoice always. Let our gentle spirit be known to others. Again we should exhibit the joy we have in the Lord toward the Lord because He is near to us.

But let’s look closer at verses 6 through 7.

Philippians 4:6–7 NASB 2020

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

Has anyone here experienced worry?

Have you ever felt anxious? Its ok to raise your hand in church. And this is a time that every hand should be up. If your hand isn’t up its probably because you are anxious about raising your hand in church so …..

All of us have worried about something. Paying the bills, Having food. Will we have enough money to fill up the gas tank or should we just put in $20?

Back in school we would be anxious about passing a class. Worried if that boy or girl liked us back.

We have all faced lives of worry and being anxious.

But Paul tells us we should not be anxious over anything. But he doesn’t simply tell us not to worry.

If I were to do a whole sermon which could be summarized as “Don’t worry, be happy” I would waste your time.

Being happy does not stop worry. It never has and never will. What will stop worry is to pray. Pray without ceasing. In everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving.

While I have listed point 2 as Prayer quells worry, the truth is that God quells worry but it is through prayer that He quells worry for us.

It is through the attitude of prayer, it is through bring everything in our lives to God through prayer that God gives us His peace; a peace which surpasses all understanding.

I don’t want you to think that simply stating our worries to God in a prayer will fix the worries. What I do want you to understand is that through an attitude toward God of constant prayer, of constantly fixing your eyes on God, God can quell your worry.

A big way that God quells our worry is by aligning us with God.

Matthew 6:9–13 NASB 2020

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

3. Prayer Aligns Us with God

Prayer will align us with God.

This prayer, often called The Lord’s Prayer, is a framework that Jesus used to teach us to pray.

This simple prayer embodies how our whole prayer life should be. It starts off with acknowledging God’s sovereignty. It also helps to put us in the correct attitude toward God.

We are praying to the sovereign God who is in heaven and whose name is holy. This attitude aligns us to Him. If God is sovereign, if God is in heaven and if God’s name is holy then that places us under His sovereignty.

From the very beginning we acknowledge the established hierarchy.

Next we pray that His kingdom comes and that His will is done. But it isn’t just a simple hope we have or that we are asking that it might happen. What we are really doing is acknowledging that His will is at work in heaven and at work on earth. How do we know it is at work on earth?

Because as Christians, we live a life in reverence to God follow His will which we are supposed to be expressing in our joyful lives, in our prayerful lives and in our public lives.

And this prayer, simple though it is, helps us to do that as we forgive those around us just as your Father has forgiven you. As we enjoy our daily bread which is given to us from God. That which we need daily is provided by God.

The way we express this back to God is through prayer and the way we receive from God is through prayer. A prayerful life is a necessity for a Christian. It isn’t just something we should be doing in times of trouble but it is the life we are to live on a daily basis.

Your prayer life will always reflect your attitude to God.

What is your attitude?

Let’s pray.