Prayer: the heart of God, the heart of the church (last sermon in the series on prayer)

PRAYER: The Heart Of God, The Heart Of The Church 6/6

Rumc 10/30/11

Richard Foster Writes, “One day a friend of mine was walking through a shopping mall with his two-year-old son.  The child was in a particularly cantankerous mood, fussing and fuming.  The frustrated father tried everything to quiet his son, but nothing seemed to help.  The child simply would not obey.  Then, under some special inspiration, the father scooped up his son, and holding him close to his chest, began singing an impromptu love song.  None of the words rhymed.  He sang off key.  And yet, as best he could, this father began sharing his heart.  “I love you,” he sang. “I’m so glad you’re my boy.  You make me happy; I like the way you laugh.”  On they went from one store to the next.  Quietly the father continued singing off key and making up words that did not rhyme.  The child relaxed and became still, listening to this strange and wonderful song.  Finally, they finished shopping and went to the car.  As the father opened the door and prepared to buckle his son into the car seat, the child lifted his head and said, simply, – “Sing it to me again, daddy! Sing it to me again!” _{(Richard Foster)}

That is the way prayer is.  In the midst our rebellion and disobedience; in the midst of our busyness and  blindness; in the middle of the biggest tantrum the world has ever seen God picks us up and sings us a love song… from God’s heart to ours.

Today is the last sermon in this series on prayer.  We have talked about prayer being part of our nature, prayer as relationship to God, the simplicity of prayer, and the power of prayer.  We have talked about and, hopefully, you have practiced some tried and true techniques to help you pray.  There are hundreds of things we haven’t covered but those will wait for another time.  Today we end this series with the conviction that PRAYER IS OUR HEART TOUCHING GOD’S HEART.

Prayer is our direct connection to the heart of God.  We talk about prayer as a discipline and it is.  But, it is so much more.  Prayer is more like being swept up in our loving father’s arms and hearing the sweet “I love you’s” whispered into our ear over and over.

For too long we have been running from God: hiding behind noise and hurry and crowds;  living a life of  climbing and pushing and shoving; living in a world of frustration and fear and intimidation. 

In prayer God welcomes us home: home to serenity and peace and joy, home to friendship and fellowship and openness, home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation. 

·                     God invites us into the living room of His heart, where we can put on old slippers and share freely. 

·                     Where we can gather around the fireplace to warm our hearts frozen by the difficulties of this life and the cynicism of this age. 

·                     Where we can just BE in God’s presence and power. 

·                     Where we  can just SHARE all that is on our hearts. 

·                     Where we can GAIN STRENGTH for the day and food for the journey.

·                     Where we can LEARN AND GROW AND STRETCH AND ASK all the questions we want. 

Perhaps you have never prayed before except in anguish or terror.  It may be that the only time the divine name has been on your lips has been in angry expletives.  Never mind.  I am here to tell you that the Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you do not believe in prayer.  You may have tried to pray and were profoundly disappointed and disillusioned.  It does not matter.  The Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you are bruised and broken by the pressures of life.  Others have wronged you, and you feel scarred for life.  You have old, painful memories that have never been healed.  You avoid prayer because you feel too distant, too unworthy, too defiled.  Do not despair.  The Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps you have prayed for many years, but the words have grown brittle and cold.  Little ever happens anymore.  God seems remote and inaccessible.  Listen to me.  The Father’s heart is open wide – you are welcome to come in.

Perhaps prayer is the delight of your life.  You have lived in the divine realm for a long time and can attest to its goodness.  But you long for more: more power, more love, more of God in your life.  Believe me.  The Father’s heart is open wide – you too are welcome to come higher up, and deeper in._{(Richard Foster)}

PRAYER THEN, IS THE HEART OF FAITH ENTERING THE HEART OF GOD.

The other side of the equation is that as the body of Christ, here on earth, prayer is at the very heart of who we are.  We read the famous passage in  Matthew, “Where 2 or three are gathered. . .  (in what)… IN MY NAME, there I am in the midst of them. Where two or three, or 50 or 75 or 175 or 1.75 million are gathered in his name there is Jesus in the midst of us.  Jesus, the connection from the heart of the church to the heart of God. 

As the church of Jesus Christ, the body of Christ, the heart of our  body - our congregation- is prayer.

Prayer is the heart that keeps the blood of Christ flowing through our veins. The church that doesn’t have prayer at its heart, is cold.

The heart is the organ by which we measure life and death by its beating or lack thereof.  The church that doesn’t have prayer at its heart is dead.

The heart is customarily considered the home of all emotion including love.  The church that doesn’t have prayer at its heart can’t love.

The church in which prayer is not the most obvious and observable activity is not really a church.  It might be many things, but it is not part of the body of Christ.

Brothers and sisters.  Prayer- THE HEART OF FAITH TOUCHING THE HEART OF God-- IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY OF THIS CHURCH. 

·                     I am not talking about the obligatory, “God bless the potato salad” before a pot luck.  Although it is always good to give thanks. 

·                     I am not talking about all the prayers being said right now, “God let this be the conclusion of the sermon.” Although we are getting close

·                     I am not talking about the simplest of prayers “God bless mom and dad” although the habit developed by having regular prayer times is essential.

 No, I am talking about real honest to God, heart bearing, soul searching, spirit stretching connection through Jesus Christ to the very heart of God.

I am convinced that there is nothing--- nothing more important that we can do as God’s people in this place than to become a praying congregation.

Your final homework then, is pretty simple.

1.                  PRAY--Each and every one of us should be praying every single day.  Make prayer a lifestyle.  There are some of us who can check that off their list already and move on to number 2.   If we are to become a praying congregation, every single one of us needs to spend some time in prayer every day. 

2.                  PRAY MORE- If you are already praying every day, pray more.  I thought about saying 10%, 25%  I  couldn’t decide--- I think that is up to you.  But if you are praying every day for 5 minutes, try 6 or 7.  If you pray for a half hour, try 40 minutes.  If you pray once a day try twice.  I don’t care how much, just increase the time you spend in prayer.  The more time you spend with someone the better you know them.   God is no exception. And god wants more than anything to hear from you more and know you better.  

3.                  Finally PRAY  DEEPER.  I asked you to PRAY DAILY because in order to be a praying congregation we need to have a lifestyle of prayer.    I ask you to PRAY MORE, so that we grow closer to God.  It might be that when you pray more, you will naturally go deeper.  But when I say PRAY DEEPER I mean to let God in to the very deepest parts of your heart, and in turn seek to experience the deepest wonders of the divine heart. 

I know that I might be talking Greek to some of you. Let me help you. 

The Women’s Bible study, the Wednesday night Library Class  and Barb Wildman and I have spent 6 weeks working our way deeper into prayer.  We have been using the “WORKBOOOK OF LIVING PRAYER”  You can too. I have left some workbooks lying on the back table.  There is also a signup sheet if those books are gone, I will buy as many books as you will use.   You can use the book alone, you can use it with a friend or three.  So I call upon you to PRAY DAILY, PRAY MORE, and PRAY DEEPER.

In this way, I hope to lead us into being a more praying congregation… a people of God who live and breathe prayer… the body of Christ with prayer pumping through our veins.  Children of God held close in God’s arms listening to God’s love song.  And singing back “Sing it to me again, daddy! Sing it to me again!”

From God’s heart to ours. . .  From our heat to God’s.  PRAYER.

                                                         

Prayer as big as life 10/23

Prayer: big enough for all of life

October 23, 2011

RUMC

Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.”

No matter how much you pray I want to gently tell you, “brother, sister, the grass grows on your path.”   I say that because we can always pray just a little more.

“But pastor,” you say, “I already spend all the time I can in prayer.”    Let me challenge you with Paul’s words.   “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

“Pray without ceasing.”  Constantly.  Persistently.   Relentlessly.  24/7.  All the time.  Obviously Paul is not talking about being on our knees praying with our voices 24/7/365.  IN order to understand what he is saying, however we have to dive deeper into the nature of prayer, so take a deep breath and hold on.

Prayer starts with three affirmations.   There are three fundamental truths that make prayer possible.  If you don’t believe these three things, you might as well be talking into an empty tin can.   So here they are. . .

(click)Number 1. Do you believe that God cares about what happens to you? If you don’t—if God does not care about you-- prayer is meaningless.   Do you believe that God cares about what happens to you?  I believe that with all my heart.  With every fiber of my being I hold on to that truth-- even when the evidence seems to be to the contrary. 

We have to be honest.  Sometimes life falls apart and we aren’t sure there IS a God, let alone one that cares anything about us.    In spite of the popular affirmation that God is in control, we know that God does not send cancer, accidents, infant death, pain, and suffering to his people.  If he does, I don’t want anything to do with him. We have to remember, LIFE IS NOT GOD.  In life there is chaos, and sin, and evil, and human freedom- all of which are interconnected-  chaos, sin, evil and human freedom bring about much of the disorder, and misunderstanding, and contradictions, and pain and suffering in our lives.  Life is not always fair, but LIFE IS NOT GOD. Sometimes life is cruel, but LIFE IS NOT GOD.   Oftentimes life hurts, but LIFE IS NOT GOD.

We worship a God who cares more than you can imagine.  DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?

(click)Number 2.  Do you believe that GOD HEARS YOU WHEN YOU PRAY?  Obviously, if God does not hear us, prayer is useless.   If God does not hear us, prayer is a waste of time. If God does not hear our prayers, prayer is worthless.

One of the best ways to see what God is like is to look at Jesus.  Over and over again Jesus heard the prayers of those around him.  Blind Bartemaeus called out and Jesus healed him.  Jesus felt the touch of the woman with the hemorrhage and she was healed.  He saw Zachaeus up in a sycamore tree.   He listened to the leper and made him clean.  He listened to the Samaritan woman at the well and gave her the water of life.   Over and over again Jesus heard the prayers of those around him.   If God is like Jesus- we know God hears us when we pray. 

In Isaiah God says, "It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are speaking I will hear." (65:24) Do you believe that GOD HEARS YOU WHEN YOU PRAY? 

(click)Number 3. Do you believe that GOD IS POWERFUL?  Too often in the history of the church people have tried to keep God in a box.  They have tried to seal God up in nice neat packages and contain the almighty.  How ridiculous is that?  God cannot be contained.  God cannot be kept. God cannot be managed.  God cannot be held back any more than an umbrella can hold back Niagara Falls.  God cannot be stopped any more than I can stop a train.

Now we just talked about chaos, and evil, and human choice.  There are some things that God as a rule does not control.  But a powerful God is one that CAN influence us and the world around us.   A powerful God is one that CAN intervene in our lives and the world around us.  A powerful God is one that CAN answer the deepest needs of our hearts. A powerful God is one that CAN change our lives and the course of history.  Jesus says “whatever you ask the father in my name, He will give you.  Jesus is saying that god CAN answer prayer because God is powerful.  Do you believe that GOD IS POWERFUL? 

IF (CLICK) God Cares and IF (CLICK) + God hears and IF (CLICK) + God can (CLICK) = then prayer is one of the most powerful forces in the created universe.  Do you see that? 

The only limiting power on prayer is our willingness to do it. Let me say that again.  The only limiting power on prayer is our willingness to do it.

Prayer should be our first instinct on rising. Prayer should be our last instinct before we lay down.  Prayer should be our first instinct when we are blessed.  Prayer should be our first instinct when we are in need.  Prayer should be our first and last instinct in all of our living.  Prayer should permeate our living and breathing.  Prayer should seep into every corner of our lives.  Prayer should consume every breath we breathe and every beat of our heart.   Prayer should be the first instinct of life.   

Too often too many of us push prayer off to the edges of life?  We set it precariously on the edge of life just in case we need it.  Oh we glance that way occasionally.  We think about it once in a while, but we never use it because it is off to the side and hard to reach.  Prayer needs to be sitting right in the middle of life. 

Do your keys do you any good if you leave them on the dresser?

Does a spare tire do you any good if it is stored in the tool shed?

Does your cell phone help you when you leave it recharging on the kitchen counter?

NO, NO, and NO.  The power of prayer is only powerful in your life if you pray. Prayer has its greatest power in your life when you make prayer the center of your living. How do we do that? Try this. . .

(CLICK)Is there an interruption in your day?  Let it call you to prayer.

Some of us are accustomed to letting meals call us to prayer, as we say the blessing.  Expand that to more of your life.

The phone rings- answer it praying for the person on the other end--- even if they are a telemarketer.

A knock at the door- pray for them before you open the door.

Let your interruptions be a call to prayer.

Flat tire- make that a time of prayer- you are on your knees anyway!

Let those interruptions call you to prayer.

(CLICK)Let situations call you to prayer.  Did you all hear that Moammar Gadhafi was killed this week?  For me that was a call to prayer.  Prayer for his family and (because I read his very disturbing biography several years ago) thankfulness that one of the most evil men in history is dead.

Are you stuck waiting at the doctor’s office, could you pray for the others who are waiting?  Could you meditate on a memorized psalm?

I often pray while I am mowing the lawn.  Could you pray while you wash dishes or fold clothes?  Let situations of life call you to prayer.

Let people call you to prayer. Do you see a man begging at the off ramp, pray for him?  Do you see a mother stressed out trying to care for her children in the grocery store, pray for her?  Do you see a child slumping on the front steps wishing someone would be nice to him?  Pray for him. Let the people you meet and the people you see be a call to prayer.

(CLICK)Let all of life be a call to prayer.

Pay attention and many things will call you to prayer.   Attend to the business of life and get in the habit of looking for God in every situation.  And if you don’t find him, pray, “come Lord Jesus, Come.”

This is what Paul means when he entreats us to “Pray without ceasing.”  Let all the circumstances of our lives be an opportunity to pray.

That is your homework this week.  Pick something right now. The interruption of ringing phone, or incoming text message.  Whenever you have to wait.  Whenever you unlock a door.  Whenever you see someone walking while you are driving.  Whoever walks by your house.  Just choose something and let it be a call to prayer this week.  Then, next week, or in two weeks when that has become a habit, you can pick something else, and then something else, until prayer begins to move into all the little nooks and crannies of your life.

So- What I want you to know today is if you try to pray unceasingly.  If you practice letting interruptions, and situations, and people call you to prayer.  If you take prayer off the edge of your life and bring it to the center.  If you don’t let grass grow on your path, you will discover that prayer is as big as life itself.  And when prayer is as big as life itself, God’s answers will be bigger than life, bigger than your sickness, bigger than your pain, bigger than your troubles.  If you let your prayers be as big as life itself and the answers will be bigger than life itself.

God cares about you- God hears you - and God is powerful.  Boom! The power of prayer.

Do you believe that? 

Let’s pray.

Prayer: follow the directions 10/9/11

Prayer: As easy as following the directions

3^rd in the series on prayer

RUMC 10/9/11

Today we start with the top ten Christian prayers of all time-- Backed by literally minutes of exhaustive guessing, and speculation here are the world’s most popular prayers

#10 The Jesus Prayer  

- (Kyrie) Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

#9 Children's Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep: 
May God guard me through the night
And wake me with the morning light. 
Amen. 

#8 A Table Blessing -

God is great and God is Good, 

And we thank God for our food; 
By God's hand we must be fed, 
Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen. 

#7 Christ Be With Me-

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us.
--- St. Patrick

#6 The Irish Blessing-

May the road rise to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

--- Anonymous

#5 Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

--- St. Francis of Assisi

#4 Serenity Prayer-

 God grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
Enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life 
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

#3 Silent Prayer

#2 Twenty-Third Psalm

#1 The Lord’s Prayer The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Now we might quibble about whether a prayer belongs at number 2 or number 3, but I suspect we can all agree that the Lord’s Prayer is the number one most popular prayer in all Christianity.

Of all the prayers Jesus prayed- this is the standout because it was his response to the disciple’s request, “Lord teach us to pray.” 

So in any series of sermons on prayer we would be remiss to skip over this sometimes too familiar, sometimes too popular prayer.

So let’s look at the Lord’s Prayer as a model for our praying and see what we can learn.

Before we begin, we have to get something straight.  Did you in notice reading Matthew this morning, is that he forgot to put ½ the Lord’s Prayer in today’s scripture reading.  Did you notice that?  Where is “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the Glory forever AMEN?”  We call that last part the Doxology.  Which means praise.

The truth is that we pretty sure that Jesus said that part of the prayer.  In modern translations both Luke and Matthew, end Jesus prayer with “As we forgive those who trespass against us.”  If you worship with our Catholic friends, or some Lutherans, you had better stop there, or you will be praying that Doxology by yourself. 

So where did that last part come from?  The early church seems to have adopted this doxology, which is certainly faithful to the spirit of Jesus prayer, as a way to conclude the Lord’s Prayer.  Somehow, at some time, it was included in some of the scrolls of the Gospel of Matthew.  It is very interesting to study the differences between various Biblical manuscripts.  (Or ancient copies of the Bible)  Virtually all scholars agree that the Byzantine scrolls that contain the Doxology to the Lord’s Prayer are not the earliest or the most accurate scrolls we have.

So, you might ask, why do we pray it?  Do we pray it that way because we have always done it that way?  Well, not quite.  You all remember the King James Version of the Bible?  In 1611, 47 of the best English scholars of the day prepared a new English translation of the Bible.  Given the information they had available at that time, they believed the doxology to be part of the prayer in Matthew, so they included it.  It was still not part of Luke.

So the answer to why we pray it that way is because the King James Version of the prayer in Matthew is worded that way.  Today I am considering the Doxology to be a faithful, but not authentic, part of the Lord’s Prayer.

Phew, now that we have that out of the way, we ask ourselves again, what can we learn from this model for prayer?

First, notice how the prayer starts and ends.  The introduction “Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” and the Doxology “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN.”  They both point to God.  They are like the bookends that hold the whole prayer together.  God is the beginning and the end of prayer.  Prayer starts with God and ends with God.  God is the Alpha and the Omega.  God is the source of prayer, and the goal of prayer.  The directions Jesus gave us in this example, say to start and end with God.

If prayer is our idea, a human construct, we are in trouble.  If prayer starts with us then the first goal of prayer would be to get God’s attention.  Maybe we would be burning offerings, or human sacrifice, or like the priests of Baal, dancing and shouting and cutting ourselves.  If prayer ends with us, we are fully responsible for answering prayer.  Again, we are in big trouble.

The truth is that prayer is not a human idea.  Prayer is not our idea.  Prayer is God’s idea.  God wants to hear you even more than you want to pray.  God is more willing to answer your prayers than you would ever believe. 

So what does that mean for our praying?

It means, first, that since the invitation is God’s.  Since God invites us to pray, and God since wants to hear our prayers.  We should go boldly into prayer.  Go to God and boldly pray to the God who is already waiting for you. 

Second, spend some time praising and adoring God.  One of my pet peeves when the kids were at home is walking in the door and being hit with all the problems of the day.  Granted I’m not anywhere near as understanding as God, but a little conversation and reconnecting would have been appreciated.  Spending a little time connecting with God, praising God, thanking God, adoring God, worshipping God, being amazed in God’s presence, goes a long ways to enriching a prayer life.  One of the things I do is practice using different names for God.  You don’t have to call God “father” all the time.  There is a list of almost 200 names for God on the computer desk back there.  Depending on your emotional condition and needs for the day, you may find some names more meaningful at one time and others more meaningful at others.

•              So the first lesson is; you are here by God’s invitation praise God boldly.  Pray boldly and praise God boldly again.

When you pray, pray like this “Our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever amen.”

The second thing I notice is the attitude of Jesus’ prayer.  Payer is not to be a list of demands. 

Jesus prays thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I suppose if this were a legal contract, you might consider this boilerplate language.  A sentence that you include in every single prayer.  Even though we might not include it in every prayer we pray, we need to pray every prayer in this attitude.  “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

How could it be otherwise?  God is God, after all.  I will never beat God in an arm wrestling contest.  I will never convince God that God is wrong.  My will is never going to supersede God’s will.  My plans are never going to beat God’s plans.  My ways are never going to be better than God’s ways.  And we need to remember that.  Maybe this sentence is more of an attitude adjustment for us than anything else, but we need it don’t we.  Saying it frequently, as we pray the Lord’s prayer is a great reminder that we are not engaged in debate with God, we are not trying to bribe God or manipulate God.  Prayer is the awesome opportunity for the created creature to be in intimate prayer relationship with the divine creator.

Part of our prayer needs to be asking God to align our will with God’s will.  Our desires, with God’s intentions.  Our prayers with God’s plan.  We must pray as Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.”  That is the proper humble attitude for prayer.

When you pray, pray like this.  Not my kingdom but thy kingdom.  // Not my will but thy will.  // Not in heaven as it is on earth, but on earth as it is in heaven.

Finally, we come to the supplications in the Lord’s Prayer.  This is the part of prayer with which most of us do not need help.  A supplication is humbly asking God for what we need.  We do a pretty God job of thinking up things for which we can ask God

I want you to notice two things here, though.  Notice that Jesus asks for bread.  Not cars, private jets, winning lottery tickets, or fame.  I’m not saying it is wrong to pray for those things.  (Though I have to wonder).  What I am saying is that Jesus felt free to ask for even the simplest things.  In God’s eyes, there is nothing that is too unimportant to be included in prayer.  I used to have a quite able-bodied friend in high school, who prayed for parking places close to the mall entrances.  I always mocked him a little, but you know if Jesus can pray for bread, who am I to say that Kevin can’t pray for parking a parking spot?  God may see fit to provide the parking spot, or not in favor of providing the opportunity for a little exercise.

I’m being a little facetious, there.  But the fact is God wants us to pour our hearts out to him in prayer.  No matter how little it may seem, it doesn’t make any difference   it is up to God to decide what to do with them.  Pour out every prayer, even the smallest, and let God sweat the details.

On the other hand, I want you to notice that Jesus also prays for forgiveness, as we forgive, and protection from evil.  This is the flip side of what I just said.  Those are no small requests.  Forgiveness of our sins from the holy God almighty, and protection when we face the cosmic forces of temptation and evil are heavy-duty requests of eternal and cosmic importance.  I cannot think of any prayers that are weightier than those are.  And it is OK to take those to God too.

Little things, big things; irritations or crises; bread or salvation; a parking place or a new kidney for our Brandi.  They are all important prayers and God wants to hear them all.  Whether you consider them important or not.  .  Pray whatever prayers are on your heart and let God sweat the details. 

When you pray, pray like this: “Give us the little things like, our daily bread and give us the big things like forgive us our trespasses and lead us not into temptation.”

Without exaggerating, I am pretty sure there have been millions of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer.  You May have heard dozens.  I have probably preached my share; I am guessing 10-15.  But each one hopefully finds a new Gem in this most popular of Christian prayers.

Today we have mined three things from the Lord’s Prayer. 
And that is your homework this week.  Pray the Lord’s Prayer every day.  Make it the model for your praying.  And remember…

1. Come and be BOLD in praise and prayer.  You are here by God’s INVITAION. 
2. Come humbly seeking God’s INSPIRATION to ALIGN your will with God’s.
3. Come with TRUST.  Offer your SUPPLICATION to God.  Both big and small, and let God sweat the details.

And now let us pray together the prayer model that Jesus gave us.

Our Father…

Prayer as individual as your fingerprint 10/16

Prayer: as individual as your fingerprint

RUMC 10/16/11

·         82% of all people pray in a given week.

o   For success      36%

o   To listen          41%

o   For healing      45%

o   For personal needs      61%

o   To praise          67%

o   About a job     73%

o   About a personal weakness     75%

o   For forgiveness           76%

o   For others        82%

o   To give thanks 95%

Where do you fall in that chart?  What kinds of prayers do you most often pray?  I think it depends a lot on your personality.

I am very interested in research that has been done that identifies personality types according to the Myers Briggs inventory, and predicts what kind of prayer most closely fits a certain personality.  I happen to be an ISTJ on the Meyers Briggs.  If that doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t worry about it.  But the theory says that SJ personalities tend toward imaginative, visual kinds of prayer.  I was taken aback by that because one of my favorite forms of prayer is imaginative visualization, like I was describing 2 weeks ago; imaging that Jesus and I are sitting here having a conversation.  Or imaging that I am one of the friends on the roof lowering each of the people for whom I am praying down through the roof in front of Jesus.

I tend to be more than a little skeptical about those models that categorize people based on a couple hundred questions.  But I have to admit it pegged me perfectly. 

All of that is to say that each and every one of us has a different way of praying.  It might be based on personality or on what grandma taught you.  It might be based on your preferences or on what seems to work.  It might be based in habit, or experimentation.  But each and every one of us has a style of prayer that is as unique as our DNA, as individual as our fingerprints.  And that is OK.  That is as God intended us to be.  If God wanted us to all be the same, he would make us with a cookie cutter rather than let the complexities of DNA and genetics enter into the picture.

Our scripture today says as much “But in everything, by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Ephesians 6:18 has a great passage too.  “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”

We are to pray “with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving.”  We are to pray “with all kinds of prayer.”  Other translations of Ephesians 6:18 include:   “Use every kind of prayer.”  (Goodspeed )   “Pray with all manner of prayer.”  (AMP)   “Pray...with all kinds of prayers that are available for you to use....”  (RSV)  To assist his people is being closely connected to him, and to help us access God in the best way possible, God has given His people a smorgasbord of ways to pray powerfully.  

   Imagine going through life with only one key.  That key might not work for every door, but if it doesn’t work, you just can’t go through the door.  Or, golfers imagine having only one golf club.  Say a putter.  If you had to use a putter for every shot, would you golf a very good game?  NO.  Or cooks, imagine that you only have one pan.  You can make anything you want, from soup to pie, from casseroles to muffins, as long as you only use that one cookie sheet.  Or that one skillet.  That wouldn’t be any good.  What a joy it is to know that God has provided us with various and wonderful tools to help us grow close to him and to take the gospel to the world!

So, you might ask, what are all these different kinds of prayer?  I wish Paul had gone on to list them.  That would have made my job a lot easier.  On the other hand, I am glad he didn’t because that would have limited us to the 3 or 6 or 12 different kinds of prayer that he happened to list.  With our personalities and spirituality as different as our fingerprints, no list could have ever been exhaustive.

Here are a couple of different ways to look at it though.

We might talk about types of prayers:

·         Prayer of Praise and adoration

1Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness. Ps 151

·         Prayer Of Thanksgiving

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD:

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,

and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.  Ps 95

·         Prayer of Petition  or supplication

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24

·         Prayer of confession

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
   and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
   my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
   the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:5-7

·         Prayer of Forgiveness

Mark 11:25-26

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

·         Prayer of Committal

22 Cast your cares on the LORD
   and he will sustain you;
he will never let
   the righteous be shaken.  Psalm 55:22

·         Prayer for guidance

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Luke 22:42

Another way to understand all kinds of prayer is to talk about prayer styles.

·         There are verbal prayers.  They might be out loud or silently.  The key is they use words.

o   Some of those might be spontaneous, others might be rote like the Lord’s prayer.

o   There are scriptural prayers, like praying the 23^rd psalm or praying through the scriptures.  

o   There are conversational prayers and very formal prayers.

o   There are dialogue prayers where not only do you speak often in writing, but you let God speak by writing on his behalf.  It usually doesn’t take long for me to write something that surprises me – something I would not have written on my own.

o   Some pray best while walking or moving or gardening or mowing the lawn.  Those can be very holy prayer times.

o   These might be sung prayers.  Like when I wake up with the choir anthem in my head.

o   These might also include group prayers and congregational prayers and prayer lists.

The list could go on and on. . .

·         There are also mental prayers

o   These might range from meditating on a scripture passage

o   To repeating the same thought or words over and over like the breath prayer, I taught you.

o   There is imaging prayer as I described imaging that I am sitting next to Jesus or lowering friends through the roof.

·         There are also heart prayers

o   For me this is often just sitting in God’s presence quietly being open to whatever he has to say.

o   This might be the prayer as you watch the sun come up.  The WOW prayer.

o   This might be the slowing down and taking a deep breath of God’s spirit prayer.

o   These might also be the crisis prayers- the quick help me God.

I have probably missed 50 different kinds of prayer.  The point is there is no right or wrong.  There is no “better” prayer. There is no “advanced” prayer.  There is no unacceptable prayer.

However, you pray, whatever style, or mode or type, or technique, or method, or variety of prayer you use, if it works for you when you call upon God, Praise God.  God is just so anxious to hear you that your mode or style, whether you are poetic or stammering, theologically correct or just doin’ your best.  God wants more than anything to hear from you.

Now- for those of you who need a little help- I am going to give you a guideline.

Remember this is about finding your personal style, but this might be a place to start if you need help.

A-Adoration- Start by praising God, acknowledging God, loving God, enjoying God.  You might even start with a song if that helps you.

C- Confession- Next turn to your past and present.  Are you ashamed of something, let God know.  Are you struggling with a temptation let God know.  Are you trying to resist making the easy decision because it is wrong.  Let God know.  Let God know how things are for you.  Confession

A-    Adoration , C- confession

T- thanksgiving- you know what to do there.  Thank God.

S- Supplication- Remember supplication is humbly asking God to help.  It might be help you, it might be help a relative or neighbor.  It might be world hunger or peace.  S- Supplication

I often fall back on this simple acronym- Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication as a place to start in prayer.  ACTS- Let’s says them together

a-Adoration

C- Confession

T- Thanksgiving

S-Supplication

However, you pray- the important thing is that we pray with the same attitude that Martin Luther saw in his dog.

Sitting, under that table, he looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes; he (Martin Luther) said, 'Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat!  All his thoughts are concentrated on the piece of meat.  Otherwise he has no thought, wish or hope.”  Luther's Tabletalk

That is prayer.  Let us take a moment to concentrate all our thoughts on God.  Otherwise to have no thought, or wish or hope.  Just pray your unique and personal prayer to God.