More than a Conversation

Introduction:

I remember the first time I took Amanda on a date. It was exciting and new. There was so much to talk about because I didn’t really know anything about her. But after 13 years of marriage and 15 years together, we can practically finish each other’s sentences. Communication can become comfortable and stale…if we let it.

It’s easy to sit around on our phones rather than talking and I have been known to text amanda when she is sitting right next to me.

But how great is it sometimes just to sit and talk to someone you love so dearly?!

I think the same can be true of our relationship with God. Many of us started out with an anxious anticipation of prayer. We may have fumbled with our words but it was new and fresh and exciting. But after years of following Jesus, it can be difficult to keep it from getting stale…if we let it.

Prayer is our opportunity to have a one on one conversation with the God of the universe who has invited us not just to an interview but into an intimate relationship.

And I know that for some of us, and particularly the men, this idea of having an intimate conversation with God can be intimidating, and I get it. But in the safety of God’s love, we are free to bare our souls.

Today we look at our 3rd Core Value at North Hills: Intimate Conversations with God.

Aspirational Values vs. real values.

We aspire to have intimate conversations with God. And we want to work together in our authentic relationships to push one another towards God.

So let’s get to it!

Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 11:1-13. This is the lesser cited Lord’s prayer recorded by Luke. Is it the same one? Or is this repeated in a different context? There are certainly some differences, but we see that the idea is the same.

As we read this passage, let us meditate on this:

Transformational Principle: Prayer intimately connects us to the one who has invited us to call Him Father!

Read:

Luke 11:1–13 ESV

1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Again:

Transformational Principle: Prayer intimately connects us to the one who has invited us to call Him Father!

Transition to Points: All the great men of the Bible were men of prayer. They walked with God and had intimate conversations with God. They poured out their heart to God even if sometimes, like David, it seemed like yelling. But let’s not forget that we have the perfect Model for prayer. Jesus Himself sometimes spent all night in prayer. Even after long days of ministry, he would sneak away to have intimate conversations with God. So when, in the Bible, Jesus speaks on prayer, we should listen.

1. THE PATTERN—vv. 1–4

Explanation: I know I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating. Of all the amazing miracles that Jesus did in the presence of His disciples, the only thing they ever asked Him to teach them to do was to pray. Now, I have heard it said that there is no wrong way to pray. Just open up your mouth and pray. While that is partially true, let’s remember that we are talking to the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent creator God of the universe. Big majestic words for a big majestic God. Show some respect. But don’t let his majesty intimidate you from approaching with confidence. God has invited us into an intimate, vulnerable, transparency, and accountable relationship with God. And no one knows an intimate relationship with God like Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. And when Jesus gives us a pattern to pray, let’s keep it in mind.

So how does Jesus say we should pray?

We are invited to pray to God as our father.

We are invited ask for our needs.

We are invited to repent of our sins.

We are invited to pray for others.

We are invited to pray against temptation.

Illustration: How many of us wish we had a more intimate conversations with God? I know I wish I did. And probably with a more intimate prayer life, I would also imagine our needs would be met, we’d be freed from the guilt and shame of sin, we’d be more forgiving and thus our relationship with others would improve and as we prayed for God’s protection, we’d sin less and grow.

But where do we start. Well first we start with Jesus. The Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11 and the cross reference in Matthew 6:9-13.

But then move to the Psalms. These are written as the song book of Israel. But they are written that you may learn how to have a truly intimate conversation with God.

Beyond that read the prayers of great men and women of God.

These are 2 of my favorites books recording the prayers of Puritans. Puritans are often posited as stuffy legalistic pharisees who burned witches and cramped the style of their fun-loving children.

But that’s unfair and not based in reality. These are people who sacrificed everything for a life of religious freedom in the new world. And in their sacrifice, they recognized that they could only get through with continuous intimate conversations with God

2. THE PARABLE—vv. 5–8

Explanation: To further drive home the point that God invites us to pray to him continually and at any time. Jesus tells this parable about a person who will give into an annoying person just to get them to shut up.

If you were annoying and constantly bugging someone, eventually they will full-fill their wish just to get you to stop nagging. Wives know that sometimes this work on husbands.

Now the point is that if you nag someone long enough they will give you whatever you want even if they don’t want to.

So how does this relate to God? Well God desires to give us what we need and more. To pray to God is never nagging. He’s never looking at His phone. He’s never too busy for us. And it’s never nagging.

Pray in faith and pray with the right motives and God delights to give us the desires of our hearts.

Illustration: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, God’s ways are not our ways.

As the parent of 3 young girls, I’ve grown to that age where I understand that moment in Star Wars where Master Yoda gets so tired of Luke’s questions that he just dies.

Kids have away of always wanting to talk to you. And we love that because we want our kids to talk to us. We want to give them open access to us. But sometimes we need some alone time, where no one wants anything from us.

We tell them go outside and play and don’t come in until I call for you. Or we turn on the TV and let that babysit them so that we can have a moments peace. Now there is nothing wrong with, as a parent, needing your own time so long as you are giving your kids regular undivided attention.

But God doesn’t need alone time. he is never burdened by our prayers or questions. He’s not even burdened by us yelling at him. As can be seen in the Psalms, God can take it!

Application: So as the Apostle Paul says:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

17 pray without ceasing,

So Jesus tells us what to pray about and how often to pray about it.

But he goes even further to tell us about the promises of God to those who pray.

3. THE PROMISES—vv. 9–13

Explanation:

Ask.

Seek.

Knock.

Ask. Sometimes the hardest part of prayer is the confidence to ask. I think that this is because either 1. We don’t think God will answer because we don’t think he wants to or maybe we don’t think we are worthy.

Now these words, ask, seek, knock carry the wait of continuously asking, seeking, knocking.

Jesus is saying, prayer is not a one and done type thing. It’s more than a one time conversation where we assume that if we don’t get an immediate answer that the answer is no.

Sometimes, God makes us wait. So keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on Knocking. It may take years. But God always answers. There is no such thing as unanswered prayers.

Illustration: Now understand that the answer might be no. Sometimes we think we know what we need. But God sees the big picture. And some of the greatest blessings are when God says no. Like that million dollars you think you want? It would likely ruin your life and statistically you will be broke in a few years. And with all that money, it would put a strain on your relationships as well.

In fact one of the most common pieces of advice given to lottery winners is to disappear from family and friends as well.

But what about praying for sick loved ones who don’t get better. Let’s remember one thing. This life is not our home. To live is Christ to die is gain because when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord.

Those who have passed on wouldn’t want to come back, not because they don’t love you, but because heaven will be that amazing.

While we don’t always pray according to God’s will, He always answers according to what’s best, even if we may not know it until we pass on into eternity.

Jesus goes on to defend the God as Father by saying, “What father among you...” And Jesus is trying to say that in the same way that a sinful earthly father will give good gifts to their children (including discipline and saying no to candy requests from time to time…at least when mom is around…just kidding that is bad parenting!)

But know that God gives good gifts to His children and sometimes he says no to a request to give us something we didn’t know to ask for.

Application: Do not give up when you pray! God will answer. His promises are true. He will keep His Word—Numbers 23:19. For each promise, there is a condition to meet. When you meet the condition, you can assure yourself of an answer.

Response: How’s your prayer life? Do you long for a more intimate relationship with the one who invites you to call Him Father?

Conclusion:

If you want to learn how to pray, it is best to learn from someone who knows a thing or 2 about prayer. Before David was a king, he was a shepherd who spend days and nights out in the field under the sun the moon and stars with just himself, the sheep and his lyre. You might think, that must have been boring! What would he do all day? Well David never thought of himself as alone. He spent so much of that time in constant, intimate conversations with God.

And thanks be to God that many of those prayers are recorded in our Bible in a book called Psalms. Of the 150 Psalms, David is listed as the author of half. And in those 75 Psalms, we have

Psalms of Praise and Worship

Psalms of Lament

Psalms of Petition

Psalms of Repentance

And my favorite Psalms of Accent which prepare our hearts for Worship by helping us focus on the majesty of God.

So beautiful were the words of the Psalms that they were put to music and were the primary music of Israel’s worship.

After the reformation, many of the reformers returned exclusively to the Psalms as the only acceptable songs for corporate worship because they truly convey the heart of God.

We truly can learn a lot from the prayers of David.

Psalm 8:1–9 ESV

1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

May this be the cry of heart.

Amen.