Why Pray?
Why Pray? Luke 18:1-14
As natural as breathing. That's how people describe something that just happens, something you don't have to think about it, something your body looks after for you. Nobody asks Why breathe? It's obvious. If you don't breathe you're going to die. And we don't ask, "Why breathe?" because, generally, that's not much chance of us deciding not to.
The thing is, that prayer is as vital for our spiritual life as breathing is for our physical life. In the same way that breathing brings in the oxygen that allows our bodies to function, and gets rid of the poisons that our bodies produce, so prayer brings in the power of God to our spirit and allows God to take away the poisons that build up in our spirit.
There is, however, one big problem. Prayer is not as natural as breathing. It does not come easy and we do have to think about it and make an act of will to meet with God and communicate. And, even worse, it's not enough to know in our heads, we have to allow our spiritual gasping for breath to change the way we act and do things.
We need the conviction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to enable us to do the thing we want to do, to meet with our Father, our friend, our comforter, our lover, day by day and communicate about life and living. Until it does become as natural as breathing. What we're going to do this morning is look at three modifications of the question, "Why pray", the answers to which might help us to move a little more of our head knowledge to our hearts and help us breathe a little easier.
Why do we pray?
I reckon that most people pray sometimes, and most Christians pray quite a lot. There are some types of prayer that do come more naturally than others.
I said a few moments ago that prayer isn't a natural activity, it isn't something that we tend to do automatically. There is at least one exception to this. When we are in a crisis. The shout for help, the rage of anger, the cry of despair. Desperate communications in desperate times. Our cries point to the deep down God shaped hole in the soul. Our spirits know that God is out there and our emotions break through our restraints to throw ourselves towards God.
The second type of prayer that tends to come quite naturally is when we feel a desire for something, when we want God to act in certain way, when we want to know what to do, or when we want protection from harm. Or at least, the talking bit of this prayer comes quite easily.
The listening bit is another matter. Hearing the no, the wait or even the yes. Hearing the guidance we've asked for, especially if it doesn't match what we wanted to hear. Perhaps hardest of all, hearing the Trust me when the protection is withheld.
Another fairly common prayer is the prayer of thanks and worship. Because we do want to worship God and thank God for all the blessings that have been poured into our lives.
Why can we pray?
How is it that we can get together with God and talk with God? We're human beings and God is God. How does that happen?
God is willing
Firstly it can happen because God wants it to happen. God created us to have a good, loving relationship with God. Our decisions that we could run our own lives got in the way of that relationship. God demonstrated how much that relationship means by Jesus coming to earth and mending the relationship in his death and resurrection. If God loves us that much, and did that, why would God stop. God did not do all that, just so that we could hang around the edges and be grudgingly put up with, no God did all that so that we could be restored to a full relationship.
The story of the unjust judge we just heard. We have a widow, no legal rights, nobody to stand up for her, nobody to speak for her, at the edge of society. We have the judge, mean unjust and unloving. Is God like the judge? Absolutely not! Are we like the widow in the presence of God? Absolutely not! This is a parable of contrasts. Romans 8:16 says we are heirs of the kingdom. Sometimes we do have to be persistent in our prayers, but that is not because God is deaf.
That is not because God needs nagging into our way of thinking. It may be because God is testing our desires, or telling us to wait, or telling us no, but it is not because we don't have the right to ask. Our God is a generous Father, we are God's children and God delights in us, and delights in giving us good things.
God is Able
The second reason we can pray is that God is able. Our God is a great big God. God is mighty and powerful. Again the best demonstration of this is the work Jesus did in restoring our relationship with God and doing away with the sin that was seperating us from God. Jesus was crucified and three days later rose from the tomb, having defeated the power of death. How much more powerful an action can there be?
Throughout the Bible we have examples of the power of God working in people's lives. In this church we have seen God work, bringing people in, healing people, and providing for people's needs.
God has power over everything.
God has power over nature. God parted rivers so that the people could escape Egypt and enter the promised land. Jesus spoke to wind and waves and they were calm.
God has power over circumstances. During the time of the early church, Peter was put in jail prior to execution. The other Christians got together and prayed. God sent an Angel to release Peter, who hurried round to the house where this prayer meeting was happening. He then spent some time persuading them that it really was him, and could they please let him in. A very dramatic change of circumstances.
On a more personal level, Liz and I have seen God's hand in the circumstances of our lives. From causing us to be in the same place at the same time for a year,when we first met, through to bringing us to Luton and giving us the friends and the ministries we have here.
God has power over lives. Every Christian in this building is a witness to God's power over lives. God has moved in our lives to overcome the sin that entrapped us and has freed us to live a life of eternal worth and significance.
Now we might know about these things: about God's willingness and power, but we have to own this knowledge, in our hearts.
One of the biggest problems I struggle with is when God doesn't seem willing and doesn't come in power. The problem of apparently unanswered prayer, particularly related to suffering, is a very old one and there's a whole book in the Bible about it. The book of Job.
We don't have time to go into it in great depth, but I'd suggest a couple of things.
I think that we have to ask ourselves a few questions before we ask God about a breakdown in communication. Have I been asking purposefully and expectantly?, Have I been cheating God, am I living with integrity?, Am I in conflict with other Christians?, Am I being selfish?, Do I care for others, and respond to their needs as I want God to respond to mine
If I can answer these type of questions positively then I come back to the answer that I think the story of Job gives us. God is God and we are not. God created us for God's pleasure, God is in charge and is completely trustworthy.
Why should we pray?
Not the other reasons for prayer weren't good reasons, but here are some other ones that we might want to ponder as our breathing gets deeper.
Matthew 5:43-48
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
There were two men who had had a major falling out. The first cursed the other, May all your teeth fall out, except one. Why except one? the other asked, So that you retain the capacity to suffer toothache replied the first.
This is the way of the world, revenge and cursing against those who do us wrong or whom we just don't like. But we are not of the world,we are different. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world writes Paul in the letter to the Romans.
But it's so difficult. To lay down our rights if we have been unfairly treated, to turn away when insulted, to ask for forgiveness where we have caused pain.
And here Jesus shows us part of the way. Pray for them. Pray for those who have hurt you, pray for those that you have hurt. Pray through gritted teeth. Pray if all your prayer is is crying your hurt and pain and anger to God instead of at the person.
Pray because it enables us to turn the hate of the world into the love of the Father. Pray, that you may be the children of your Father in heaven that you are.
Mark 14:37-41
"Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Once more he went away and prayed the same thing."
We have to pray to stay awake, on watch. When we spend a lot of time with people we tend to become sensitised to the things that they are concerned about.
My wife Liz is a vegetarian. Now, whenever I go anywhere, whether she's there or not, I tend to assess how well they've catered for vegetarians, I'm on watch for it. When we spend time with God we become sensitised to the things that God cares about. We find that it is easier to keep watch for the things that are going to tempt us and to avoid them. We also find ourselves on watch for injustice, for the poor, for those who need love. We have work to do with Jesus and part of that is prayer.
In the story of the development of the 24/7 prayer movement in Red Moon Rising I came across this, a realisation of the direction that God was calling people:
"We need to move from praying for people from the comfort of our own salvation to interceding with them from a point of need" p193
This is real Jesus type prayer. One of the most important things about Jesus was his incarnation. God became human and lived among us. God chose to stand with us and be counted as one of us. Jesus moved from the comfort of heaven to a place where he could intercede from a point of need. And we are his followers. We are called to stand with the hurting and the poor and the needy and the oppressed. Jesus takes us before the throne of God, and, if we are to be like him, we are called to take others with us. To be them to Jesus and Jesus to them.
The second section of the reading we had this morning also gives us a reason to pray:
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-- or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
We pray because it keeps us real. If prayer is about spending time with God, it gives us the opportunity to look at our lives, to look at God, and, seeing the huge differences, say again. Thank you for your grace to us. Prayer gives us the opportunity to keep short accounts with God. An opportunity to ask God to show us ourselves, to convict us of the things that need to change, and to provide us the strength to change, because part of the realistic view of ourselves we are given is that we don't have the strength to change ourselves.
Why pray? Pray because we are welcomed into God's presence to spend time with God. Pray because we have a God who is able and powerful. Pray because it deepens our relationship with God, reveals more about God to us and more about ourselves. Pray because it is what Jesus did. Pray because it is part of our obedient following of Jesus' example and command to us. Pray because we are called to become more like Christ and the best way to do that is to spend time with him. Pray because you breathe.
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