“Keep on praying!” A Message for the All-Age Service, Sunday February 5th, 2023
Please read Luke 11: 1-13
Just the other day I was wondering, and by no means for the first time, how does God deal with all the prayer requests from all the people, in all the countries all over the world? All of which brought to mind the movie, Bruce Almighty. Bruce Noland (Jim Carrey) lives as though the world revolves around him. He is a reporter whose dream is to be promoted to the news anchor at a television station. Bruce fails to get the job. One night, Bruce is complaining about the way God runs the world. So, God (Morgan Freeman) meets with Bruce and gives him the opportunity run the universe for one week. Bruce enjoys his new-found abilities and puts them, typically, to quite self-centred and naughty use.
Then he turns to another of things God is known for… hearing and answering peoples’ prayers. All those prayer requests! Millions of them start flooding in. Bruce is overwhelmed. Thinking out loud, he comes up with a plan. "I know, let all prayers be organised into files." Immediately, thousands of files fill up his apartment.
Bruce thinks. "I know. Prayer Post-it-notes." Everything in sight is instantly covered in yellow post-it notes. Bruce is transformed into a giant yellow mummy.
Bruce's next idea is prayer e-mail. His computer says, "You've got prayers," and begins downloading the requests. Thousands pour in. Bruce realises this is going to take a while. The next morning the computer tells him he has 1,527,503 prayer messages. He uses his power to reply to the requests at superhuman speed.
"I had to have made a dent," he says. He checks his progress and finds that over 3 million have come in since he began. His final solution to the mountain of prayers is to say yes to everyone. "There you go. Now everybody's happy." (Wrong!)
The end result is world-wide chaos and conflict. Naturally everyone believes their prayers should be answered at the expense of others. Who would be God?!
In the end, Bruce realises that he’s not God, and he is relieved and thankful for that (Thanksgiving). He comes in humility before God; he learns how to be honest, at last, and admits how very selfish he really is (Confession). Bruce needs help. We see Bruce beginning to pray, not simply for himself, but for the needs of others (Intercession).
I was reminded of the man in the story Jesus tells in Luke chapter 11, a story through which we learn something about what God (The Father) is like… His Character; and something of what prayer is for, its purpose; and, thirdly, we – and this is moral of the gospel story – we learn that (come what may) we should never stop praying and never give up. I think Jesus told this and other stories because he knew just how prone we are to giving up, especially when we don’t get the answers we want…
1. God is our Father.
God is our Father. That’s how we (His children) are to address Him and how best we can come to Him. God’s children want to pray to their Father. We recall the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11: 1). They wanted to talk to Him and Jesus often explained how it was that the Father wanted to listen to them, just as any good parent would their own children.
One thing we can be absolutely certain of: God hears the prayers of His children (John 9:31; Ps 145: 19). God wants us to come with care, but boldly to Him; in just the same way as the man came banging on the door of his neighbour and friend. The bible tells us that, unlike the reluctant and cranky neighbour in this passage, God never sleeps. He doesn’t need to be roused from his bed in the middle of the night! He is not a reluctant God. He loves His children and, as a good father, will always give good gifts; give them what they need. But He will answer prayer is His own way and in His own timing.
2. What is prayer for?
The passage pictures what prayer is, and why we should do it. What is prayer for? I think everyone has some idea about what prayer is. It’s hard-wired into every human being’s DNA! You’ll see something which looks very like prayer and worship on the terraces at Turf Moor every couple of weeks!
Prayer is not the last resort. It should not be something done only when we are in desperate need or when we’re after something just for ourselves. If we are honest, our prayers are very often like a selfish shopping list of the things we would like, or think would be good for us! Furthermore, prayer should become a habit. Prayer is the “first port of call”. We should persist at it, according to Jesus. When I was a small boy my friends and I used to play a game called “Knock-down-ginger” where we knocked on someone’s front door really loud and then ran away laughing our heads off. Our prayers shouldn’t be like this silly and irritating game, where we knock only once or occasionally and then disappear.
Jesus encouraged his listeners to keep at it… Keep asking… Keep Seeking… Keep Knocking. A gracious God gave us prayer as the means to know Him better, to get closer to Him. If we don’t talk to God or listen to Him – and most often we do this through God’s Word in Scripture – then we will never (really) build a good understanding together.
Prayer is all about relationship. When we pray, we are interacting with a person who just happens to be the God who created the heavens and the earth! (It’s not a relationship of equals!) Many people will laugh at you when you tell them that you pray to the LORD. But, sadly, that is because they don’t, as yet, have a personal relationship with God. A good relationship always takes work, and is defined by give and take, by speaking and hearing… sometimes there is silence.
After a while you may come to understand that what God wants and what you want become very similar… a sign of a good relationship. We see the man banging on the door of a friend (verse 5). If you want to bang on someone’s door in the middle of the night… it will help your cause greatly if it’s your friend’s door you are knocking on!
What is prayer for? Plainly, prayer is also for others. The man comes to his friend because he doesn’t have the resources he needs to help the man who knocked on his own door. He doesn’t give up. How often we become discouraged because nothing seems to change.
3. Why we should keep praying:
Why? Because God commands us. He knows what is best for us.
John Stott wrote that God will answer ‘No’ if the things we ask for ‘are either not good in themselves, or not good for us or for others, directly or indirectly, immediately or ultimately’. We don’t always get to know the reason why the answer is ‘No’. We need to remember that God sees things from an eternal perspective and that there are some things we may never understand in this life. God hears all your prayers (Psalm 139:4, 1 John 5:14–15, 1 Peter 3:12) and, in one sense, he answers all your prayers. But we do not always receive what we ask for. When we ask God for something, the response will be ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ or ‘Wait’.
We end with a poem,
“I’ve dreamed many dreams that never came true; I’ve seen them vanish at dawn. But I’ve realised enough of my dreams, thank God, to make me want to dream on…
I’ve prayed many prayers when no answer came; I’ve waited patient and long. But answers have come to enough of my prayers, to make me keep praying on.
I’ve drained the cup of disappointment and pain; I’ve gone many days without song, but I’ve sipped enough nectar from the rose of life to make me want to live on…
So, thank you LORD for saying No when my want-list for things far-exceeded my longing for you; when I asked for a stone, foolishly certain I had asked for bread…
Thank-you God! For saying No when I asked you to leave me alone!” (Anonymous)
God, our gracious Father, we thank you! Help us your children to be people who pray, to grow in our knowledge and love of you and in our self-understanding. Grant us persistence in prayer to you, for others and ourselves, till we see the result of those prayers in the kingdom which shall surely come. We pray through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
MFR 04/02/23
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector – a sketch adapted from the Lion storyteller Bible...
Narrator: There were some very religious people who thought they were better than everyone else, so Jesus told the people a story.
Two men went to the temple to pray.
One was a religious leader, a Pharisee. The other was a tax collector.
Pharisee: (stands up tall, eyes and hands to heaven)
“Thank you God that I am better than all these other people. Better than robbers… better than villains… better than those who cheat on their partners and most definitely (pointing at the man) better than that tax collector.
Everyone knows he’s greedy and dishonest!
But I keep the rules… and everyone knows that I give a tenth of all I earn to the Temple!”
(He looks around, proudly, with a big smile, then sits down)
(A tax collector nervously stands, looking down, down at the ground. He beats his chest in sorrow and shame)
Tax Collector: “I’ve done lots of bad things...
Please God, forgive me!! (sits down, head bowed)
Narrator:
Jesus looked at the people and asked, which man did God listen to? Whose prayer did he answer? The second man, that’s who…
God forgave every bad thing the man had ever done.
Remember, if you act as if you’re better than other people, then God will put you in your place.
But if you’re honest about who you are and what you need, then God will put things right.
“There is something very important to remember before we talk to God. The way to him is blocked. Our sins, even the small ones, have come between God and ourselves. Who is able to clear them away? Neither you, nor I. But the Lord Jesus Christ can. He died on the cross to do it. He has made the way open for us...” (Prayer for Children, Zinnia Bryan).
BMS DAY OF PRAYER: a Prayer for 2023 by Louise Lynch
For this prayer I have used the language of Hagar as she encountered and experienced God in the moment of her acute distress, whom she calls ‘the Living One who sees me’ (Genesis 16: 13).
Lord, as we pray today for BMS World Mission and for your work across this world we want to proclaim that you are Lord of the nations, the maker of heaven and earth, that for you there are no borders and your compassion will never run out.
We worship and praise you because you are the Living God who sees the plight of your people and who hears their calls. We thank you that you continue to hear the prayers of people in desperation, in places of war and conflict, of those who are stateless or homeless, sick, in poverty or overwhelmed by worry and anxiety.
We thank you that you are our hope and our salvation. We pray for a more just, caring and peaceful world. Living God who sees and hears, we thank you that you have stirred the hearts of the faithful to be generous with their lives, their wealth, their time and their expertise.
We thank you for every person who has given to your work through BMS and we ask for your blessing to be upon them. We thank you for those who are faithful in prayer and for those who live sacrificially that they may give and serve. We thank you that through the generosity of BMS supporters, tangible expressions of your love have been possible in places where hope had been extinguished.
Living God who sees and hears and speaks, we praise you that in places where the name of Jesus has never been heard before, you are revealing yourself; you are putting a hunger in hearts to search for truth and opening eyes and ears.
Lord of the harvest, we ask that you will send out more workers into these places. We pray that in every place BMS works, new, local leaders will rise up with a passion for mission and service. We pray that as BMS seeks to work with people on the move, the most marginalised and the least evangelised, that you will guide and bless that work. We pray that you will make our work fruitful as we work for gender equality, the safeguarding of the most vulnerable and creation stewardship. We pray that you will create in us humble hearts that we can learn from others and build one another up.
And Lord we pray for ourselves, that we will be people who see this world as you see it, and hear your voice in our lives and be equipped to serve where you have placed us. We pray that we may be open to new possibilities for service this year. Amen