[What is prayer?]

Prayer = “talking to God”. It’s a conversation between you and God!

Make no mistake, prayer isn’t a form of meditation, it isn’t a time of passive reflection, but rather a direct address to the God who is the Creator and Sustainer of every living thing! Take just a moment to think about the gravity of that. This is what we’re doing when we pray! Prayer is the communication of the human soul with the Lord who created the soul. 

Prayer can be audible and spoken out loud or silent within your inmost being. It can be done private or public, formal or informal. But here’s the deal: James 1:6 tells us that all prayer must be offered in faith. John 16:23 instructs us that all prayer must be offered in the name of Jesus. And Romans 8:26 says it must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

That is to say, not all prayers are created equal and not all prayers are heard by God. What do I mean by that? There is only one true God who exists in the distincts persons – Father, Son, and Spirit – so if you’re praying to anyone or anything else, your prayers aren’t going to be heard. The one true God doesn’t receive prayers offered up to Allah, the cosmos or anything else. For our prayers to be heard, they must be offered up in faith, in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Spirit. 

[Why should I pray]

  • We pray to communicate with God.
  • We pray to experience the presence of God.
  • We pray to surrender our lives unto God.
  • We pray to discern the will of God.
  • We pray to receive forgiveness from God.
  • We pray to give glory to God.
  • We pray to humble ourselves before God.
  • We pray to deepen dependence upon God.
  • We pray to grow our confidence in God.
  • We pray to receive healing through God.
  • We pray to obtain wisdom from God. 
  • We pray to see transformation by God. 
  • We pray to receive strength from God. 
  • And so, so much more! 

This is why we pray! The God we serve isn’t an impersonal force, but rather an ever-present, interpersonal, friend of wayward sinners like you and I who stands both able and willing to help in our time of need! And as such finite human beings what a privilege we have been given to commune with our creator who is infinite, all knowing, and all powerful! So, while you may not be able to see your next step today, God can. So, pray to him!

[How should I pray?]

So we know what prayer is and why we do it, does anyone here struggle with how to do it? Would anyone say, I’m bad at prayer? 

If that’s you, quit being so hard on yourself! The only way to be bad at prayer is to not persist in prayer. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do it! Again, it’s a conversation between you and God. But maybe you’re like me and your brain never stops running, which makes it hard to focus when you pray. Or maybe you’re comfortable praying alone, but when you’re praying out loud in a group, you freeze up!

Throughout the entire Bible we do see a common pattern emerge within prayers, a formula we can embrace!
So often our prayers are relegated to “God will you do this form, God will do that for me.”

Last week in our Missional Community Gathering Matthew Diamond pointed out how captivated he was by Nehemiah’s prayer in Chapter 1 – How Nehemiah first took time to speak to the character of God, he confessed his sin, and he gave thanks before making his request! 

Matthew had identified the Bible’s formula for prayer, which is often presented as the acronym A.C.T.S., which stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Where you begin by addressing God by what you adore in him, you continue with the confession of your sin, you then take time to give voice to all that you’re thankful to God for, and then conclude with your requests. 

Jesus modeled this as well in the Lord’s Prayer. We don’t have time to get in the weeds on this today, as much as I’d love to, but I did want to highlight this tool to help you grow in prayer!
Now what about the when?

[When should I pray?]
Nehemiah models for us the biblical principle of praying without ceasing! That is to say, we should always pray! It should be an open-ended conversation. Our prayer life shouldn’t be regimented to just our devotional time, or before meals, or before bed, but rather it should be an ongoing conversation throughout the day – when things are going well, when we’re feeling grateful, when things are going bad, when we need God’s help. 

Prayer isn’t always this long formal, praying through ACTS. When the king asks Nehemiah what he was requesting, he probably didn’t stop and pray a long oration. It was likely quick and internal. It was a “God give me the words to speak”, or maybe a “God prepare the heart of the king to receive my request with grace”.

Application: From Nehemiah we learn that to get from where we are to where we’re going, what we need most is for God to move in us and in the hearts of others. We need his power, we need providence, we need his protection. 

So what have you been planning for that you need to stop and pray for? What are the barriers between where you are and where you are going that you need God’s help to move?

God sovereignly works through the prayers of his people!  Be faithful where you are, commit your burdens to pray!