Why Pray?

12/02/2006

Maybe we’ll call this the “Why” series of messages! “Why Give Thanks?” and now, “Why Pray?” I wonder what the next one could possibly be? I guess I’ll have to wait with all of you to see…God is fun, isn’t He?

Some thought the last message in “The Journey” was written especially for Thanksgiving--that it was planned that way. It wasn’t. When it came to me, I thought, “How appropriate that is for Thanksgiving,” seeing God’s perfect timing in it. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends. We sure did!

As we headed out to pick up some family members on Thanksgiving Thursday, and drive with them to the Thanksgiving feast we were invited to, I thought it was probably the busiest time of the day to be on the road. How many said, “Why don’t you come over between 12:00 and 1:00?” I don’t know, but I think it would be sort of interesting to have a bird’s eye view of the United States during that hour of the day and see all those coming out of their homes, pies in hand, salads in hand, rolls in hand, veggies in hand…as they make their way to the car, settle the food in a safe place so it won’t slip and slide around, and drive to their destination for dinner. Some, of course, would have to be on the road early if they were traveling far. We didn’t, it was a short drive for us, and that was nice.

You may wonder why I ramble on and on here, about all this…and I’m not really sure myself. I only sensed I was to write about prayer today, with no real clear direction on where we were to go together on this subject, so I’m taking this ride with you and enjoying the meandering of it…over the river and through the woods…

I have been reading through Luke of late, and it seems to be taking longer than I would like. I would like to “gobble” up the text and move quickly through it, but it seems I’m constantly called to stop and pray my way through it. As I do, I realize there are passages in Luke that I have read over and over, but never really understood. And, as I read through it and try to make some sense of it in my mind, it seems that only prayer and asking my Father what is meant brings any clarity to some of it.

Is that why we are called to pray?
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons.

Sometimes, things only become clear after the fact. Sometimes we can’t see the reasons God has for something until many years later. Sometimes, we never see it on this earth. The disciples seemed to have been no different. Even though Jesus was speaking in their language, they seemed to not “get” what He was saying. Now when we read it, about His final days and entering into Jerusalem, it is clear.

In Luke 18:31-34, it says that Jesus gathered the twelve disciples around him and told them about going to Jerusalem. He let them know that all the predictions of the ancient prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true--how He would be handed over to the Romans, whipped, killed, and on the third day, rise again. And instead of the disciples “getting it,” Luke 18:34 says:

they didn’t understand a thing he said. Its significance was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.”

And we wonder why we are in the dark sometimes about the things of God? Sometimes we think it’s our fault--if we would just study a little harder, work a little longer, be a little smarter, but in actuality some things are hidden from us by God until in His perfect timing. Then, He reveals them to us…if we are listening.

I love the many places in the Bible where it talks about those who are willing to hear, should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying. That catches my attention each time I read it, because I wonder how willing am I to hear, and then if I do hear something, how willing am I to listen to it…and when that “it” is actually “He,” being the Holy Spirit, how willing am I to receive the information and understand it?

“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit
and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has
been hidden away in heaven.” Rev. 2:17 (NLT)

Why would God hide things from us? I wonder, is it like a parent hiding birthday or Christmas gifts, and following that child through the house and watching their excitement as they discover the hidden treasures that are waiting for them?

I remember back when I was in the 11th grade, and it was a difficult time in our family. My oldest brother had just joined the Navy, and he had had an allergic reaction to the shots he’d been given upon entering the service down in San Diego. My parents had to make a sudden trip down there from Fresno to be with him, and that left me at home with my four younger siblings, one of which had a birthday while they were gone. In just remembering that, I know now that it was in March of 1974.

My mom was a very organized person, and even though she had to suddenly leave town, she was already prepared for my younger brother’s 10th birthday. The presents had been bought and wrapped, and inside one of the gifts was a note that said, “Go look under mom and dad’s bed!” So, when the day came and my brother was opening his gifts in my parents’ absence, he read this note and we all headed off to see what was under the bed…but it wasn’t there! Even though much of the preparation had been done, my mom had not yet placed the gift under the bed before she left! I think we were all a little shocked, and I’m sure a phone call was made and the gift was found elsewhere--that part I don’t remember, but I do remember the hunt for it, and it not being there.

The Bible is God’s gift to us, every single day of our lives. When we spend time celebrating in God’s Word, perhaps God enjoys watching us uncover His hidden treasures—treasures that up to that point in our lives have been hidden for just such a time as this.

Perhaps God enjoys “conversing” with us as we read His Word and as we ask Him for its meaning? If it were just like any other book, would we do that? Would we feel a need to pray our way through it and involve God in our reading time? Maybe, but probably not to the extent that we can with God’s Holy Word, because some of it just doesn’t make sense the first time we read it through, or even the 1,000th time we read it through. Not until…God’s revelation comes to us through prayer. And when that revelation comes, we wonder why in the world we didn’t see it in the first place! Well, we shouldn’t feel bad, since the disciples had Jesus speaking the words to them, and they still didn’t get it.

I was recently reading in Luke 11 about the asking, looking, and knocking that Jesus talks about. How many times have we read that passage?

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for.
Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be
opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds.
And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.” Luke 11:9-10 (NLT)

It doesn’t seem true, so to speak, because there are many things we ask for from God, that it seems He doesn’t give us. Of course, maybe we’re not supposed to ask for that new sports car, or that dream vacation--but what about the heart-wrenching asking we do, like, “Please heal my child, or my wife, or my friend…” Where’s God when we ask those things? I mean, Jesus even goes on to say,

“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke 11:11­13 (NLT)

So, why are we not given all that we ask for if God is such a generous God? Or have we already received it, and we just don’t “get it” yet?

The present that was supposed to be left under my parent’s bed for my brother was probably what he wanted most of all for his birthday. I don’t remember now, but when I think about it, what gift would you string out the longest, get the child most worked up about, have them hunt through the house for? The biggest and best thing ever! The one thing that would light up their world and make them more grateful than any other!! And isn’t that what God is saying here…at least that’s what He revealed to me when I read this passage through just the other day, once again trying to understand how unanswered prayers fit in the words Jesus left us with.

I have asked many things, and many things have seemingly been refused, as I’m sure all of you have probably experienced, but what about the Greatest Gift of all? The One that will light up our world and change us forever? The One Gift that God would never refuse to give any of us, the One that encompasses all things? It’s right there…did you see it?

“how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

That’s the best thing God’s got going, hands down!! But we miss it sometimes, because it seems to get buried under all the other things on our “list” of wants and needs and comforts and emotions. And so for years, we can read this Scripture and wonder about the validity of it, until the day comes when we are willing to hear, then listen and understand what the Spirit is saying…all our asking, knocking and looking are answered in the gift of the Holy Spirit…all else in life will be satisfied through this One Gift!

“Oh, Lord, now I see what You mean by this! At least, to me, on this day, as I pray to You about this Scripture, asking You for understanding. You have revealed a great Truth to me! Thank you so much!”

“Then he opened their minds to understand
these many Scriptures.”
Luke 24:45 (NLT)

You see, this was for me, on this day, and it spoke to my heart in a new way. It lit up my world, satisfied my soul as I connected with my Father in Heaven about His care in my life. I am not saying that this will speak to you, on this day…that’s the joy and the fun in reading the Word of God and praying through it One on one with our Lord. He knows us all, intimately, and He knows what we need and what we’re willing to hear and listen to and understand. Then we can personally “eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven,” and it is so very sweet! It is so fulfilling, and we will wonder why we never noticed it before, or understood it, or enjoyed the tastiness of it.

Why Pray?

To connect with our Father, to get to know Him, and to allow Him to reveal things to us that have been in His Word for all these years, but we never understood. To taste the sweet manna from Heaven that is offered to all of us—our daily bread. These are some very good reasons to pray, and only the tip of the iceberg of the gifts that we will discover, when we do pray.

God’s Word is so powerful, and on that vein, I heard a great teacher speak of the power of words just the other day as she talked about angels and prayer. I’d never quite looked at it this way, but in quoting Psalm 34:6-7, “I cried out to the Lord in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears. For the angel of the Lord guards all who fear him, and he rescues them.”

She talked about the angels that surround us and how when we pray, they move into action to help us. They are not wimpy little babies with wings, but mighty warriors that fight for us, and the angels are basically saying, “Give us something to work with here!!” If we’re not praying, we are not using the “angel of the Lord” who “guards all who fear him.”

Angels are real! They are here, they are God’s servants sent to help us. When I type in the word, “angel” in Biblegateway.com, there are 291 passages that come up using the word angel. They are all over in the Bible, and they are all over in our lives, even if we cannot see them. I recently wrote this about angels, concerning my friend Sara, who just left for Heaven:

“One day I was visiting with Sara, and I asked her if I could just pray silently with her for a while. I told her she could just relax, even sleep if she wanted to, while I prayed. I pulled my chair up beside her bed and held her hand. Silently I prayed for her, silently I prayed for my own fears, I prayed for God’s strength to fill her, I prayed for many things, one of which was for God’s angels to fill her room. When I finished praying, Sara and I talked a bit. She wanted to know what I had been praying about. I told her about God’s angels being there in the room with us, even though we couldn’t see them. She said she could feel them…I asked her what she felt. She talked of how it was a feeling of Truth that filled her. She seemed to think that was silly…it was not! I told her it made such perfect sense because God is Truth, so why would His Truth not fill her as prayers were being offered up to Him? That sense of well-being in the midst of such difficulty, that is of God.” (The Journey – “What Did We Talk About Today?)

We had called God’s angels into action, we had given them something to work with, and they stood at attention in Sara’s hospital room, filling it with Truth when the enemy would have liked it to be filled with lies instead. I wish we could have visibly seen the battle raging and the victory won in the spiritual world around us on that day, but we could not, we could only sense it. Someday, we will be given eyes to see!

Why pray?

Why not pray? might be the better question--but we will never know until we give prayer a chance.

There was a time in my life when I didn’t know how to pray, and I asked God to teach me. He has been working in me, but still my prayers seem weak, unworthy…and then I read the greatest thing by Charles H. Spurgeon. He quoted 1 Kings 8:45 (NIV),

“Hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.”

Charles went on to say,

“If in prayer I come before a throne of grace, then the faults of my prayer will be overlooked. The groanings of your spirit are such that you think there is nothing in them…Never mind; you are not come to the throne of justice, otherwise when God perceives the fault in the prayer He would spurn it—your graspings and stammerings are before a throne of grace…Our Lord Jesus Christ takes care to alter and amend every prayer before He presents it, and He makes the prayer perfect and prevalent with His own merits. God looks upon the prayer as presented through Christ and forgives all its own inherent faultiness. How this ought to encourage any of us who feel ourselves to be feeble, wandering and unskillful in prayer.”

I love that! All we need do is pray, with all the faults and stammerings included, and Jesus cleans it all up and presents it to our Father! He’s sort of like an editor, which I would love to have so these messages would never include typos and mistakes when you get them! Our prayers are perfect when brought to the Throne of Grace!

So, why not pray?
And give the angels something to work with!
And get to know our Father as He deserves to be known!
And let Jesus know that His work on the Cross is appreciated in our lives—because of Jesus, the Temple curtain was torn, allowing us access into the Throne Room of God!
And discover new things each day, because we can connect with the One who knows all and is willing to reveal things to us when we spend time with Him in prayer and in His Word!

The Tin Man, the Scarecrow, The Lion and Dorothy were on their way to OZ to meet up with the Mighty Wizard. They just knew he had everything they were looking for…a heart, a brain, courage and the way home. Along the way, they found companionship in each other and grew to love one another deeply. There were tears at the end--they had all received their gifts from the Wizard, all except Dorothy--it seemed there was no gift that would fit her need. Perhaps, no answer to her prayer. Then, of course, the Wizard told her that the way home was possible to her all along. All she had to do was click her heals together three times and repeat over and over, “There’s no place like home….there’s no place like home…”

Dorothy then woke up in her own bed, surrounded by her “companions,” and so very grateful for everything.

We will have our requests in life, and we can offer them up to God--and to those who ask, they shall receive, to those who look, they shall find, to those who knock, it will be opened, but when it seems answers have not come the way we expect them to, we may just not realize that the answer has been with us all along… The wonderful, all powerful, all-knowing, all comforting, all revealing Holy Spirit of God Who is already there because He is worn on the inside of us…and when we ask, and look, and knock, “…how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

We might not have all the riches, all the gadgets, all the health, all the anything we think this world has to offer, but for all who will believe, we do have the gift of the Holy Spirit, the comfort of a real Home, and an everlasting life through Jesus Christ.

That is the gift that will light up our world like no other!!
That is the answer that we will find when we pray!

"…while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, chained between two soldiers, with others standing guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, ‘Quick! Get up!’ And the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him, ‘Get dressed and put on your sandals.’ And he did. ‘Now put on your coat and follow me,’ the angel ordered.” Acts 12 5-8 (NLT)

Nope, not babies with wings, but mighty warriors of God, ready to free us from our chains and fight our battles with the enemy!

Let’s give them something to work with!
Let’s enjoy sweet manna from Heaven!
Let’s get to know our God!
Let’s pray!!

Diane