Introduction

     John White in the book “The Fight” talks about his first attempt at prayer. He was a medical student in England at the time and the heating of the house he lived in was not that great and so the house was quite damp and cold in the morning. Very soon after he became a Christian, he was told that he needed to spend time in prayer and for some reason or other, he determined to spend two hours in prayer every morning. The first day he did this, he got early in the morning. After praying for everyone he knew, five minutes had gone by. He struggled to pray some more and after 25 minutes he was all out of ideas. Then he decided that perhaps he would read his Bible. It was a real chore, but he finally managed to fill the two hours. The next morning, he got up and repeated the process with the same struggle. The third morning, he rolled over and went back to sleep. He could not sustain such a regimen of prayer out of the sense of duty with which he did it.

     Have you ever felt it a duty and a chore to pray? Have you struggled to pray? I suspect we all have.

     When we look at the Bible, we see that prayer figures  quite prominently. We read about Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Peter and Paul praying in a variety of settings and we notice from these examples and from the teaching of the Bible that prayer is important. As one writer puts it, “We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in his Word, he intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” And yet, for most of us prayer is a struggle.

     How can we become more diligent in prayer? How can we make it more a part of our life? This morning I would like to extend an invitation to pray that I hope will encourage us to prayer. I believe that in order for us to become strong in our faith, in order to have a close walk with God and in order for the church to grow, prayer must be a significant part of our lives and my hope is to encourage us to pray not by guilt, but by invitation.

I.                  Stories Of Prayer in Desperation

A.                Isaiah 36,37

     After the armies of Sennacharib, king of Assyria, had captured all the fortified cities of Judah, they also came to Jerusalem. The capital city with the government and army was closed tight against his armies. Before beginning all the tedious work of building a seige against the city, Sennacharib attempted a campaign of demoralization. He met with some of the city officials outside the gates of the city and in a loud enough voice that everyone standing on the walls could hear, he spoke of his power and of the impossiblity of the situation for the residents of Jerusalem. We read in Isaiah 36:4, 7, 18-20. He questioned the power of God to protect them and even pointed out that it was God who had allowed him to capture all the other cities.

     It was true, Sennacharib was a powerful enemy. He was present on the doorstep of the city. They could not rely on their own army or they would have already defeated him. Instead they had retreated into this last bastion of defense and it did not look very hopeful for victory. They could not go to any other nation for help. They were in a difficult situation, in fact, they were in an impossible situation.

     In that hopeless situation we read in 37:1-4 that, Hezekiah, the king, “tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.”

     After this prayer, Sennacharib was forced to retreat because of trouble elsewhere. Before he left, however, he again threatened the people of Jerusalem with a letter warning that he would be back. Again in 37:15 we read, “Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.”

     Why did he pray? He was in trouble and only God could help and so he went to God for help.

B.                Matthew 14:22-36

     Jesus and his disciples had spent the whole day with a large crowd of people. As evening approached, Jesus dismissed the crowds. He sent the disciples across the lake in a boat and he stayed where he was and began to spend some time in prayer.

     The trip across the lake went badly for the disciples because a storm came up and the wind blew hard against the boat and they had to work hard to make any progress. Somewhere between 3 and 6 in the morning, Jesus walked on the water to the disciples in the boat. When they saw Him, they did not realize it was him. They were terrified thinking it was a ghost. He calmed them down revealing who he was. Peter spoke to Him and said, “If it is really you, tell me to come out to you on the water.” Jesus told him, “come!’ and Peter climbed out of the boat and went towards Jesus. Suddenly, he noticed the waves all around him and fear overwhelmed him. What did he do? Matthew 14:30 tells us. He said, “Lord, save me!” He prayed! He didn’t try to make a run for the boat, he didn’t look for something to hold on to. He knew that he was in trouble and he did the most natural thing for a person in trouble to do. He prayed.

Reflecting on this, one writer put it this way, “Sinking times are praying times.”

C.                 Acts 3,4

     One day Peter and John went to pray in the temple. On the way they met a lame man who was begging. They told him that they did not have money to give him, but they did have something else. Then they proclaimed that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he should walk! They took his hand, helped him up and the man walked. This healing incident gave them the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to all those who had seen this healing miracle. When they preached, the religious leaders took notice and wanted to question them about what they were saying. They put them in jail over night and the next morning they had the opportunity to proclaim the gospel before the religious leaders. After dismissing them, they consulted and then called them in again and threatened them and warned them not to speak about the name of Jesus any more.

     This was the first serious challenge to the new church and they realized that it would not be the last. In the face of this threat, they prayed. Acts 3:23,24 says, “On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God....” As a result, God gave them power to proclaim the word even more boldly.

     I have heard of dogs who as soon as they hear thunder, run under the bed. When a storm is coming, birds quickly fly to their nests or the shelter of strong trees. Just as naturally, when we face storms in life which we know we cannot handle it, we quickly go to prayer.

     When the two boys began shooting people in the high school in Littleton, Colorado, it is not surprising how quickly people turned to God in prayer. When we do not know where to turn, we turn to God in prayer.

II.               Do We Know Our Desperation?

     Charles Spurgeon in one of his devotionals writes, “Our extremities are the Lord’s opportunities. Immediately a keen sense of danger forces an anxious cry from us the ear of Jesus hears, and with him ear and heart go together, and the hand does not long linger. When we can do nothing Jesus can do all things; let us enlist his powerful aid upon our side, and all will be well.”

     If this is true, why is it then that we do not pray? Spurgeon goes on to say, “If he has said much about prayer, it is because he knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty.”

     I think that that is where the problem often lies. We do not know our poverty. We do not know how desperate our situation is. We have somehow gotten the impression that we can do it ourselves and we do not need help. Even Jesus, who was God, knew his need while on earth. We read in Hebrews 5:7, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. “

     The key then is to realize our need. What are the things that we need where we can’t do it and God must do it.

A.                Physical Need

     We have physical needs. As people involved in farming, we should know this more than most. The situation in Western Manitoba raises the issue for us again. This situation teaches us again that we cannot guarantee that we will be able to put in a crop much less harvest a crop. We often tend to think of past patterns of sowing and harvest to encourage us in this years troubles, but the situation out west reminds us that we cannot do that. In regards to all aspects of our farming operation, we need to pray to God and ask Him for what we need.

     Physical health is another area. We take care of our bodies, exercise, have good diets and we think that we can create conditions which should allow us to live for a very long time. However, our lives are not in our hands. A virus, a disease sets in and suddenly we realize how dependent we are on God for life. We must pray for God’s help in the issues that relate to our physical health. That does not mean we should not do what we can to maintain health, but these are only partial measures. Ultimately, we depend on God for life and so must pray to him about the issues of health.

B.                Spiritual Need

     What about our spirtual condition? Do we know our spiritual poverty?

     Jesus faced a great spiritual battle in the garden in which Satan was trying to destroy him and everything he was intending to do on the cross. He knew the terrible battle that was upon him. Meanwhile, the disciples were asleep, unaware of the spiritual battle going on, in which they were also involved. Too often, we are like those sleeping disciples.

     Do we have victory over every temptation? Do we love others as we ought? Do we know how and where God wants us to serve Him? Do we have joy in following and serving Him? When we get to heaven will it be a radical shift or simply saying hello to someone we already know very well? Sometimes as people face end of life issues, they face terrible temptations. Somehow we don’t realize that these battles are going on all the time. The enemy is trying to prevent us from gong forward in the area of our faith.

     As we contemplate these questions, we realize that we are more needy than we often realize. It seems that sometimes we coast along and forget just how much we need God’s help simply to live the Christian life. In our spiritual walk, we are desperately needy? As we realize our desperate need, we will pray about it earnestly!

C.                 Ministry Needs

     In Acts 13:1-3, we read that the church was praying and fasting about the ministry of the word in their area. In that context, the Spirit led them to send Paul and Barnabas out to minister in new areas. Their realization of need to minister effectively led them to pray. Paul put a high premium on the importance of prayer in regards to ministry. He realized that without prayer the effective work that he and the other apostles were doing would not happen. He says in II Corinthians 1:10,11 “...On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers...”

     What about the ministry of this church? The other evening as we met together in the congregational meeting, we realized a number of significant need areas - the need for a pastor, the need for help in the summer Kid’s Church ministry, the need for workers and guidance in the tremendous opportunity in the clubs programm, the challenge of what changes will happen as the number of young people from our church decreases and the challenge of reaching the young people from the community increases, the need of many people in this community who do not know Jesus as Saviour and Lord. All of these are situations that are beyond us. Do we realize our need? Will we, in the context of that need, go to God in prayer?

Conclusion

     So often in the past we have been told we must pray and guilt has driven us to pray and it has lasted as long as the guilt has lasted.

     I have noticed in my own life that the various challenges we have had to face in the past year have put me more in touch with my needs and my helplessness. There are so many things in my life that I have no control over and it has been a joy in the last while to go to God in my need. I feel no obligation at 5:00 in the morning or 7:00 in the morning to go to prayer. I go gladly because I need help. I know it and I rejoice to fly to God for help. And He does help! He has provided amazing answers to prayer and he has given courage and patience and peace.

     The corollary is that when I see His supply, I then rejoice to go to Him in thanksgiving and praise and so pray some more. Ephesians 5:19 encourages us along this line when it says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

     My appeal to all of us this morning is not a censure saying that you don’t pray enough. Rather, it is an appeal. Let us look at our lives, see our desperate need and joyfully run to the one who waits for us to ask Him for help.