Sermon on Prayer – My Journey of Prayer

I’ll never forget my experience of visiting the Toronto revival or “blessing.” I went three nights, and each night had three parts: worship, message, and prayer. The worship was wonderful, the messages I don’t remember, but the real “experience” was the prayer. We were instructed to stand somewhere on the masking tape lines that ran the length of the prayer room, maybe five parallel lines of tape six feet apart. I got near the front the first night and little teams of people started meeting with each person. A lady and a man came to me, and the woman started praying and prophesying over me. She said, “Lord, bless this mighty man of prayer,” and in that moment I knew she was not hearing from God, because I was not a mighty man of prayer. Of course, the goal of this prayer for me was for me to be “slain in the Spirit.” As the woman prayed for me, I was ready to get whatever God had for me. Then the man behind me nudged me in the back and I rocked forward then back, and I realized he was trying to help me go down. I told the Lord, “Lord, I’m not going down unless You make me go down.” I didn’t go down. But as they moved on to the next person, I spent some really enjoyable time in prayer.

What does it take to be a mighty man of prayer or a mighty woman of prayer? Should I even be seeking to be “mighty”? What if praying bores me?  Scares me?  Seems useless to me? I’ve experienced all of that.

What Is Prayer?

I think prayer is very basically talking to God.

Do you recall when Cain had killed Abel, his brother (Genesis 4) and God came to him and asked him where his brother was? He and God had a conversation. He talked to God and God talked to him. Cain, of course, lied to God (“I don’t know where my brother is”), corrected God (“Am I my brother’s keeper?”), and complained to God (“My punishment is too great”). So is that prayer?

How should you talk to someone who is your Creator, Master, Father, Friend, Savior, Helper…your everything? There are plenty of prayers recorded in the Bible, and we see this talking to God generally as including an address to Him as God, but then see all kinds of conversation, including complaining, arguing, worshiping, bargaining, requesting, asking something for someone else, confessing sin, and even challenging God. Prayer is talking to God.

Jesus, of course, prayed, talked to God, talked to God often in seclusion and for a long time (he prayed all night before selecting his apostles), thanked God for giving him his disciples, thanked God for food at meals, asked God to strengthen his disciples, asked the Father to spare him from death (but told God he would obey if not spared), and now, we’re told, he constantly prays for us (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1).

Does prayer include listening to God? It should. As Paul prayed for God to remove the thorn in his flesh, God told him “no,” that God’s strength was made perfect in Paul’s weakness, and that God’s grace was sufficient for him (2 Corinthians 12). As Jesus prayed for his disciples God responded to him (John 12:28).

But people have argued that we shouldn’t need God to speak to us and so, we shouldn’t expect Him to. He has already spoken to us in Scipture. But then why did Christ appear to Paul in Corinth and tell him not to be afraid (Acts 18:5-11)? Plenty of Scriptures told Paul not to be afraid. Yet Jesus felt it was important to speak to Paul about this.

Others argue that listening for God’s words to us is too subjective and we can’t trust it. But Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Why Should I Pray?

There are several reasons to pray:

1. God commands it – 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – pray without ceasing
2. It is a supreme privilege – Hebrews 4:16, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)
3. It will transform me – 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.

How Should I Pray?

I should pray…

1. As honestly as I can – Psalm 139; Psalm 6:1,2 – O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.
2. As normally as I can – Romans 8:26, Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
3. As frequently as I can – Nehemiah sat and wept and fasted and prayed many days, confessed the sins of his fathers, then, when he appeared sad in the presence of the king, was asked by the king to explain it, at which point he apparently silently and quickly asks to help him. There are lengthy private prayers and “arrow” prayers, short prayers to God.