Pray Hard
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Do you believe in prayer?
That’s the line Dr. Black opens chapter 6 of his book with — “Do you believe in prayer?”
I’d be willing to bet there’s not a Jesus follower among us who would answer, “No.” And, even if you’re an unbeliever, meaning you’ve not yet given your life to Jesus, I’d bet the answer is still, “Yes, I believe in prayer.”
Then, add to that the old proverbial saying, “There’s no atheists in the fox hole,” and the fact that the vast majority of people in the U.S. claim to be spiritual and in some form or fashion practice prayer. Most of us “believe” in prayer in some way.
You know who else believed in prayer? The early church. That’s what we find in our verses in Acts…
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Prayer is then stressed throughout the book of Acts.
The apostles were devoting themselves to prayer prior to Pentecost (Acts 1:14 “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”).
The church prayed when the first deacons were appointed to serve neglected widows (Acts 6:6 “These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.”).
A church at prayer sent Barnabas and Saul to preach to the lost (Acts 13:3 “Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”).
Paul prayed when appointing leaders in every congregation (Acts 14:23 “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”).
The church prayed when it faced persecution (Acts 4:23–31 “When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”).
Peter and John prayed for the Samaritans (Acts 8:15 “who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,”).
Paul and Silas prayed while chained up in prison (Acts 16:25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,”).
Paul prayed with the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:36 “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”), with the believers near Tyre (Acts 21:5 “When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed”), in the Jerusalem Temple (Acts 22:17 ““When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance” ), on a boat (Acts 27:35 “And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.”), and for Publius’ father in Malta (Acts 28:8 “It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him.” ).
It doesn’t take long to figure out that the early church was birthed out of and lived in an atmosphere of prayer. But, I come back to our opening question: do we believe in prayer? And, take it a step farther, do we believe in prayer for the church? Sure, we pray, and often, for our personal struggles and for God to heal the sick, both of which are Scriptural, mind you.
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
and…
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
My point in asking the question, however, is for us to pause. To think.
For instance, I believe that this stage will support me. I’ve seen the carpet peeled back. I know that if I get back here, it’s all concrete. So, I stand on this stage without fear.
But, do I pray with the type of conviction that prayer actually works? That’s the heart of my question. Do we pray like we believe in prayer? Well, if we’re going to do that, let’s square some things about prayer away first.
What is prayer?
What is prayer?
At its basic core, prayer is living in relationship and fellowship with God, which includes deep communication. But, it’s more than just talking. It’s an attitude as much as it’s an activity.
Here’s a working definition of prayer that I’ve used for some time now:
“Prayer is drawing near to God in order to exchange our wishes for His will.”
It takes into account that Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father.” There’s that drawing near part. And, it bears in mind the fact that the most common Greek word for prayer, proseuche, deals with “wishing or asking” for something. There’s where the our wishes part comes from. And, it remembers Jesus’ model in prayer when He was in the garden facing crucifixion for the sins of the world. What did He pray in that moment? Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will be done.
But, prayer can, is, and should be deeper than just a list of wants. As a matter of fact, Paul taught us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess.5:17). Surely this doesn’t involve some type of monk lifestyle where we wander around the monastery grounds and mumble prayers to ourselves all day long. No, I think Paul’s encouragement is for the church to maintain an attitude of prayerfulness all day, every day. This type of prayer hones in on the “drawing near” portion of our definition of prayer, the “our Father” part. It seeks to mindful of the presence of God throughout the day, practicing a conscious awareness of the fact that God is with us. One thing that I’ve started to do is, I’ll begin the day in a bit of solitude where I seek to be mindful of God’s presence. It helps. Am I great at it? No, but you never get good at anything you don’t practice.
This mindfulness of God’s presence should lead to at least two other expressions of prayer, ones that are missing from my definition. The first word is agiazo, or “hallowed” or “let it be considered as holy.” It’s a term of worship. The second word is eucharistia. You might recognize in it the word “eucharist,” which is a way that some denominations will refer to the Lord’s Supper. It means “to give thanks.” So, I think my definition needs an amendment:
“Prayer is drawing near to God in order to worship God, give Him thanks, and exchange our wishes for His will.”
And if we are to be healthy, this must be a part of our DNA as both believers and a church body. So, my next question:
How do we pray?
How do we pray?
First, we remember just how weak we are. You’re probably thinking, “I would’ve thought prayer stems from maturity in the Christian life.” And, it does, but maturity comes with an ever-increasing awareness of just how weak and frail we are. I share this often on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, and in here on occasion, too, but when we first start our walk with Jesus, we think about avoiding the “big” sins, whatever they are. Don’t kill anyone. Don’t lie…much. Don’t cheat on your taxes…that one’s probably in there somewhere. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat on your spouse. Don’t worship idols. It tends to be relatively easy to go down the checklist and be like, “Okay, I’m doing pretty good today. I didn’t do any of those today!” But the longer we follow Jesus, the more we realize that sin runs so much deeper.
What about when you realize that adultery extends to the heart level and even the way we look at and think about the opposite sex matter?
What about when you realize an idol can be way more than just a golden calf? An idol can be ANYTHING that has a ruling stake in your heart.
What about when you realize that when we check off the boxes of what I didn’t do, I’m actually dangerously skirting the prideful…self-righteous…line?
We are sinful and weak individuals, and prayer is an expression of that weakness. But, prayer is even something that is difficult and lacking if the Spirit is not involved. Listen to what Paul says in Romans:
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.
It’s this strange paradox where prayer is a confession of my weakness. But, I’m so weak that I don’t or won’t pray without the Spirit’s help. Dr. Black says it like this:
“I cannot pray unless the Holy Spirit prays; but the Holy Spirit will not pray unless I am praying!”
Church, we would do well to remember that prayer isn’t just a DIY project. The Spirit is at work activating, empowering, and enabling our prayer life. Therefore, let us be more in tune with Him. Let us listen to Him. Let us be mindful of His promptings. Let us be thankful for His work.
You know, when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, He gives them permission to pray a simple prayer, actually encouraging them not to heap up words and empty phrases. Can I truly model my prayer after Jesus’? What if I miss someone or something? (You will.) What if I don’t say it right? (You won’t.) What if I don’t get the time right…morning or night? (Is this even valid?) The answer is, “Yes, you can pray just like Jesus taught.” But, it has to be in faith. It has to be aware of our weakness. It has to be in the assurance of the Spirit’s involvement. Then we can pray freely.
Finally…
Private or public?
Private or public?
The true answer is both. Much of what we’ve said so far deals with a more private, in-your-closet type of prayer. However, we can’t lose sight of the need to be united in the pursuit of God. We can’t forget to chase and praise and petition God as a united body of believers.
Is this easy? No, not always. But, refer again to the Spirit as our helper.
And, we should also remember the Lord’s Prayer. Something extremely striking about the Lord’s Prayer is that it’s meant to be prayed in the context of family and community. How do I know that? Listen to what Jesus teaches us:
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Did you catch it? I tried to help us out a little. It’s a plural prayer. The church that was birthed from a prayer meeting, and it was taught to pray in family and in community. Shouldn’t we be eager to continue to devote ourselves to this same pattern.
I love Dr. Black’s conclusion:
“Prayer is nothing more than voicing our dependence upon the true and living God.
“And the answer to each and every prayer that we offer is the same:
“He is with us, making up for all of our weakness with all of His power.”
This is our call individually. This is our call as a body of believers. And, the answer is the same. Let us, then, draw near to God. Let us worship Him. Let us give Him thanks. And, let Him hear our hearts while we confess, “Nevertheless, not what we will, but what You will be done.”
