07.24.2022 - Empowered through Prayer

07.24.2022

Scripture: Luke 11:1-13

Luke 11:1–13 NRSV

1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 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 indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” 5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give 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!”

Lost

Do you remember the last time you got lost?

I do. It was just a few weeks ago. It was Wednesday, July 6th, a beautiful summer day, and I had the special mission of going to serve communion to a group of about 20 campers and counselors that evening out at Aldersgate Camp. About 30 minutes before I had to leave home, a huge storm blew through town, and the power went out. I was worried that Walmart might not have power enough for me to go in, get a few snacks for the camp staff, and get back out in time to make it to camp. Thankfully, that side of town still had power, so I got in and got out without too much trouble.

As I quickly tried to check my items out at the self-scan station, my phone rang, and it was a number I did not recognize. I waited to check the message when I got in the car, and it was Bekah, calling from another phone, telling me that her cell service was out and she would not be able to send or receive calls or texts because of the storm. She was worried about me driving all that way in the storm. As I got on the road to Ravenna, KY, she managed to call again, and we were able to speak for a few minutes.

God was gracious to me that evening, and the storm went ahead of me, so other than a few dropped tree branches, I had very little wind or rain to drive through on the way there. With the blessing of our technology, my phone gave me turn-by-turn directions all the way through Richmond, Irvine, and Ravenna - up into the mountains. There was only one stretch of road where I lost service. After I regained service, driving up the mountain, seeing several deer, a raccoon, and something a little bit bigger that I couldn’t quite identify, my phone suddenly went into recalculating mode and told me that I needed to turn around and that the trip was going to take about 10 minutes longer than expected. Somehow, I missed a turn, probably in that dead zone. Technology had failed me, I was lost in the woods, and I was about to miss the worship service in which I was in charge of serving communion. Not good.

I stopped. I prayed. I turned around and started back the way I came, hoping for some miraculous guidance. Not 5 miles down the road, I met a stopped car and a lady who was removing a branch from the road. I waved at her out my window, which made her hurry faster, thinking I was just wanting through. “No,” I told her. “I am lost and need help getting to Aldersgate Camp. Do you know how to get there?”

She did one better. She had me follow her and then directed me to the turn I missed, the last turn before getting to camp. God provided willing help, and I made it in time to do the one job I had for the evening: share the grace of God with those campers in Holy Communion.

Prayer is the communication between heaven and the mission field. We may get cut off from GPS or cell service in life by outside forces, but God is always there to communicate with us if we are willing to pray.

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Constant Communication with God

We need constant communication with God, not just when we are lost. He is our source of guidance and strength. In our scripture today, the disciples noticed that Jesus prayed differently than everyone else. They saw Him return again and again to God in prayer, finding His own strength and guidance there. So they asked Him to teach them to pray the way He did.

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Short, focused, and repeated over and over again. Lord, we acknowledge your goodness. We recognize our need for You. We ask for Your help in doing what we need to do. Most of the prayers we have in scripture, by nature of being recorded and taught, are this way. Most of the time, the point of prayer is not about our words. Our words focus us and prepare us to listen and be in the presence of God. The power of prayer is what happens after we finish talking.

The news said last Tuesday was the hottest day ever recorded in the United Kingdom, and they had major fires break out all over. Our western states deal with forest and field fires like that every year. Communication is always a top priority for our firemen and women and any kind of first responder. If they enter a burning building, they need someone outside with a blueprint or map to help guide them through dark and smoky corridors to find the people. Trying to do it on their own wastes time, which often costs the lives of those in danger and can cost the life of the first responder as well.

It seems to me that the greater the mission, the darker the cave, the hotter the fire God sends us in to rescue others, the more we need constant communication with God. We have to keep ourselves connected and in right relationship with God if we hope to help others escape sin and death and grow in their own relationship with God.

How do we learn to live a life in constant communication with God?

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Getting Started

The Christian life is not an on/off switch. It is something we grow into. We may grow fast some days and slow on others. We may even grow out of it rather than into it at times. You cannot go from not knowing how to pray to praying in constant communication with God overnight. It is a choice you have to make continually and a habit you have to form.

We remember to pray the day after the fire, the flood, or whatever life disaster we experienced. We might even remember weeks after. But to continue on and certainly to grow in prayer, we have to remind and push ourselves. We don’t have to come up with excuses not to pray - the world will make excuses for us. We have to find the conviction to pray anyway. Remember, prayer is not always about remembering to say things to God. It is about us taking the time to listen to Him.

God’s grace has a powerful way of taking young children who were rescued from the fire and shaping them over the years to become firefighters themselves. Some people would just say thank you and move on with their lives. Yet God can and does call people to do more. And it is not an easy path. They have to overcome their own trauma and fears they may experience every day. There is the physical, mental, and emotional training to go through. It can be as devastating to fail to rescue someone as it is rewarding to get someone out safely. Whatever path God calls you to follow, serving in His mission to save the lost and raise up disciples, know that it will take everything you have and more.

Jesus taught that God will provide when we persist in prayer. Even an unfriendly neighbor or uncaring parent would give when met with persistent asking. How much more will the Heavenly Father give... what? Money? Health? Food? Water?

No, the Holy Spirit. His own presence. We don’t need the miraculous staff of Moses that parted the Red Sea when we have the Spirit of Jesus, who takes us by the hand and allows us to walk right on top of the water with Him. We don’t need a pantry full of food when we have the Spirit of Jesus, who took five loaves and two fish and fed more than 5,000. Whatever our need, whatever our situation, there is one part of our prayer that God will always answer the same.

“I’m here with you. I’m not going to leave. Listen and follow me, and know that I can still hear you. You are not alone. I’m here with you.”

That is a word from God that we can all benefit from hearing every day.

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Regular Prayer to Constant Prayer

The Habit of regular, daily prayer grows into constant prayer right along with the challenges that life throws at us. If we pray regularly already, hardships will have us running toward God rather than away from Him. The Spirit of God is as deep as the ocean that could drown us in an instant yet comes to us as a spring of living water. The deeper we dive into the presence of God’s Spirit, the more we recognize our need for Him.

We need to stay in constant communication with God because He truly is the source of our strength. We cannot hope to live faithfully without following His guidance and relying on His power. We grow in that communication by praying regularly and allowing God to take our regular prayers and teach us to listen to Him constantly. We do that by not only praying privately but by praying together, lifting one another up, and surrounding each other with God’s presence.

That is the only way we can live the full life God created for us. This life is meant to be lived with Him, and if we live it prayerfully in His presence, He will transform us into fountains of grace whose source of life and strength comes from the unfathomable depths of His Holy Spirit. Then, when we go out into the fires, the floods, the deepest caves, and the darkest forests in search of the lost, we will have more to offer than just ourselves. We will have the Spirit of God Himself to share with them.

If we go on mission without communication with God, we won’t save the lost... we will join them and become lost ourselves.