In Reverence - Pray
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Introduction
Introduction
Prayer.
It is something that has become such a social norm that the significance of it has been diminished. Something bad happens and people start tweeting our “thoughts and prayers.” But how many people actually pray? Or do they they even know where to begin?
Last series we talked about what it means to remain rooted in Christ and how if our focus is on Jesus, no other earthly achievement matters. Now that we have established what it means to remain rooted in Christ, where do we go from here?
Let’s Pray
If I were to ask you to describe what reverence means, what would you say?
Reverence is defined as deep respect for someone or something.
This phrasing of what reverence is was practiced even in the earliest churches and back before that to the OT.
In Exodus when a burning bush appears to Moses he instructed to take off his sandals before he walks on “Holy Ground” because the presence of the LORD was there.
The High Priests in the early tabernacles and temples would wash their bodies and enter into the holy of holies naked and washed clean from the world outside. The Holy of Holies was the place where God’s presence resided over Israel.
Later we see David do this when he repents and celebrates Freedom from sin.
Then in between we see Jesus do this before he dies and asks God to let this cup pass and follows that up by telling God that he wants his Will to be done.
In Acts 9:31 we are tols that people were walking in the “fear of the Lord in the comfort of the Holy Spirit” and this led to a mass growth of the church. They operated in wisdom which begins by fearing God.
Even in Revelation we see surrender happen and are instructed to“Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”
From the very beginning of time until the very end there is a call to reverence when we come before the Lord.
Over the next few weeks we are going to be exploring steps you can take to remain rooted in Christ, but this is important to establish at the beginning because it reminds of who we are talking to or why we are studying his word. Why we worship.
Today we are going to start with Prayer.
What is Prayer?
Prayer is present in the Bible probably more than any other spiritual practice. If you were to calculate how many times prayer is referenced in the Bible, you are looking at somewhere over 600 times. That means that every single book in the Bible mentions prayer on average at least 10 times and the number is probably greater than that. The question I have heard so many times is what exactly is prayer? Yeah sure it is talking to God, but why is it given a different distinction? Aren’t there other words that describe prayer?
I mean in the New Testament we are told to pray in every circumstance and for everything.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
We are told to pray when we are anxious.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We are told to pray when we want or need something
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
The list goes on and on. But what exactly is it?
PRAYER: a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.
At its simplest form, prayer is having a conversation with God. Much like we have conversations with each other.
Think about you for a second, how many of you would be TERRIFIED if I asked you to come up here and pray for us?
Prayer is not something that should be all that difficult for us to do. It simply a conversation we have with God.
And there are different types of prayer.
Prayer of Worship
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
We will talk more about worship in a couple of weeks, but worship is lifting up prayers to God.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Prayer of faith
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 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. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Prayer requires us to have faith when we pray because there is power in our prayers.
Corporate Prayer
In Acts 9 we read a story where Paul prays for the church while he is in jail. In response the church starts instituting prayer together communally. This is where some of the catholic prayers come from. These set phrases that are said by the church. This is where you bow your heads and close your eyes. There was so much reverence around these corporate prayers because they represented the cry of the church.
The list is wayyy more extensive than this, but you get the idea. Before we take action steps in our lives and think about how to work through tough situations, stop and pray.
PRAYER SHOULD ALWAYS BE OUR FIRST STEP
How do we pray?
Okay so if this is meant to be our first step, then how do we pray?
The disciples asked Jesus this very question.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
So the disciples, who are very much the people that are out in front of congregations, are essentially told, do not pray to be seen.
There was this guy that went to our church when I was younger who’s name was Onesimus Samson. This dude was huge. Like 6’4, 280 all muscle. He was the nicest guy on the planet but he looked intimidating and he had a deep voice that was intimidating. And man could he pray! After his prayer I swear you could go conquer nations. It was EPIC. Until you realize that all of his prayers stayed in the same place. They were all about God’s conquering power. Which is great, but nothing about them were personal. This is what Jesus is warning the disciples of. he is saying be mindful of praying just to be seen. It is useless. Rather go and pray in private. I should note here that he is not saying we don’t pray in public. He is saying do not pray in a way that seeks to be seen.
Then Jesus gives instruction on how to pray
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
He starts off recognizing the greatness of God.
(HALLOWED MEANS GREATLY REVERED AND HONORED)
Acknowledge God’s greatness
In reverence, ask for his will to be done.
Bring your request
Ask for forgiveness
Embrace surrender
Obviously he is not telling them to say this verbatim, but he is giving them an outline on how to pray.
But I ask you, do know how you would fill each of these slots?
Can you identify where God’s greatness is present in your life?
Do you want God’s will to be done? Truly...
Do you know what to ask god for or do you want to bring your requests to him?
What is it that you need to ask forgiveness for?
Do you really want to surrender who you are to God and let him fight your battles for you?
If you pray to check a box, then you are like the people who pray to be seen. Jesus reminds us that the God we pray to already knows. He knows what we need to ask for forgiveness for and he knows what our needs are so what is the point of praying in an empty way?
The best way to summarize this is to say that
WE PRAY BY BEING VULNERABLE.
CONCLUSION
The beauty of community is that we do not have to do things alone. For some of you, the concept of prayer and how and why we pray is not hard to grasp because it is a daily practice. For some of you it is not a daily practice and for others it might be something you have no practice with at all. But that doesn’t change the fact that you can pray.
There is power is prayer. In the God we pray to. But it requires us to be honest about what we need.
I want to go back to this passage in James that I touched on briefly when I talked about prayer of faith.
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
See I have faith. In have faith in the God I serve. The God that left us the gift of prayer so that we can be in constant communication with him.
But I also understand that faith is meant to be lived out in community.
Tonight you guys are going to get an opportunity to pray. To pray for those that are in trouble. To praise with those who are happy. To pray for healing for those who are sick, physically and spiritually. And as you go into small groups and spend time praying for each other, I want you to remember that we are to do it in reverence. In a way that honors each other and honors God.
Take the first step of Prayer
Be vulnerable
Pray with faith
LETS PRAY