14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
We pray because it's a critical, I would dare say, essential component of our spiritual walk. We know more about Jesus and grow in Him as we communicate with Him. And, it's a two-way street: we bring our requests before Him and then we listen for His direction. If we pray using the Scriptures - and we should - He will enlighten His Word to our hearts. He wants us to confidently approach Him and know that He is at work, even though we may not think He has heard or is answering. We trust in His love and faithfulness as we pour out our hearts to Him.
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In Luke 18, Jesus shared a parable about the importance of coming to God in prayer, consistently and expectantly. Luke writes in verse 1:
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Then Jesus told the story:
(2) "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'
4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' "
6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said.
7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Recently, I received a press release from the American Association of Retired Persons. That is a different form of communication than what I am used to from AARP, who will from time-to-time try to entice me to join their organization. And, yes, I do qualify!
This AARP comminique was different. It alerted me to an article in the February/March 2015 edition of their magazine, and the title is: The Paradox of Prayer: A Pilgrimage by one of the editors, Bill Newcott. And, even though the article did not focus specifically on Christian prayer, there were a number of Christians who were featured, including Christina Levasheff, the winner of the first season of The American Bible Challenge - her two-year old son died as the result of Krabbe disease. There were also comments from Todd and Sonja Burpo, whose son Colton's experience is a central focus of the book and movie, Heaven is for Real. Also, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, was interviewed about the loss of his father.
Newcott refers to a Pew survey which finds that among people 50 or older who pray, one-quarter report having received a specific answer to prayer in the past week. He does note that the Pew questioners did not differentiate between positive and negative answers to prayer. Another 35 percent or so say they received several such answers in the past year. In contrast, about 9 percent say they've never received an answer to prayer, pretty close to the 6 percent who report that they never pray at all.
Sonja says, "Sometimes we tell God we want something and he says, 'Uh-uh. I've got something better.' "
(2) "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.
3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.'
4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' "
6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said.
7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
Recently, I received a press release from the American Association of Retired Persons. That is a different form of communication than what I am used to from AARP, who will from time-to-time try to entice me to join their organization. And, yes, I do qualify!
This AARP comminique was different. It alerted me to an article in the February/March 2015 edition of their magazine, and the title is: The Paradox of Prayer: A Pilgrimage by one of the editors, Bill Newcott. And, even though the article did not focus specifically on Christian prayer, there were a number of Christians who were featured, including Christina Levasheff, the winner of the first season of The American Bible Challenge - her two-year old son died as the result of Krabbe disease. There were also comments from Todd and Sonja Burpo, whose son Colton's experience is a central focus of the book and movie, Heaven is for Real. Also, Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, was interviewed about the loss of his father.
Newcott refers to a Pew survey which finds that among people 50 or older who pray, one-quarter report having received a specific answer to prayer in the past week. He does note that the Pew questioners did not differentiate between positive and negative answers to prayer. Another 35 percent or so say they received several such answers in the past year. In contrast, about 9 percent say they've never received an answer to prayer, pretty close to the 6 percent who report that they never pray at all.
The writer states:
Those inspiring stories about answered prayer — miraculous or humdrum — constitute the feel-good side of prayer. But every day the faithful must deal with the uncomfortable reality that an awful lot of the time, prayers go unanswered — or, worse, seem to receive a resounding "no."
Christina, after having endured the loss of a child, is quoted as saying: "I still believe in the power of prayer," adding, "I'm conflicted, I'm angry, and I hurt. I tell God, 'I don't know how to reconcile what I'm feeling with who you say you are.' But I still believe that God wants us to meet him where we are."
Pastor Graham, who as a young man had to face the death of his father in an accident, says that, "...as a young man, I had to come to grips with this question: Why should I pray? What's the point if God knows what he's going to do anyway? But that's fatalism. We're not fatalists. I do believe prayer changes things. But we trust God to do what is best for his children, even if I don't get what I want."
Bishop Charles Johnson, who leads a church in Maryland, commented on the importance of music and its relationship to prayer: "Prayer is a time to reflect," he said. "Music, like prayer, has a way of building our faith, and those songs have a way of taking us back and causing us to remember what the Lord has done, and what he's going to do, and what he's capable of doing. It's a way of saying thank you."
As Newcott writes,
Why do we pray? There are many and diverse answers to that question. We pray because our relationship with Christ communicates to us that we serve a God who cares. We pray because we've been invited to come before God's throne. Prayer keeps our channels with Him open. And, we continue in prayer perhaps because we have seen God move in response to our prayers in the past.
What do we expect? And, we come before God in order to present our requests - for ourselves and others. Because we serve a faithful God, we can know as we come before Him and pray according to His will laid out in His Word, or when we don't even know what to pray, He hears us and will respond in the manner that is best for us. It may not be what we think is best, but we can continue to rely on His love and power.
Isn't it interesting that older people pray more. It could be perhaps an indicator of the faith traditions of our country, but it could also be that there has been a bank of answered prayers that we have observed, which can help build our confidence in the Lord. Perhaps today, we can take some time to reflect on how we have seen God's faithfulness in our lives, and maybe even think on times when it seemed that God was silent or was not answering our prayers, but that we eventually knew that He had heard and answered.
Bishop Charles Johnson, who leads a church in Maryland, commented on the importance of music and its relationship to prayer: "Prayer is a time to reflect," he said. "Music, like prayer, has a way of building our faith, and those songs have a way of taking us back and causing us to remember what the Lord has done, and what he's going to do, and what he's capable of doing. It's a way of saying thank you."
As Newcott writes,
America is a praying country, and the older we get, the more we pray: An impressive 48 percent of Americans ages 18 through 29 pray every day, Pew reports, but for the 50-through-59 age group, the number grows to 61 percent — and the 70-plus crowd is downright pious, with 70 percent checking in on a daily basis. Among faith groups, 86 percent of Protestants say they pray every week, followed by 82 percent of Muslims, 79 percent of Catholics and 44 percent of Jews. Of those unaffiliated with any religion, 65 percent pray weekly.I think, all in all, the author paints a hopeful narrative about continuing to pray, even though we may think our prayers are going without being answered. One might call it a paradox, but I believe our persistence in prayer is a demonstration of our faith, a critical component of our walk with Christ. I want to pose 2 questions:
Why do we pray? There are many and diverse answers to that question. We pray because our relationship with Christ communicates to us that we serve a God who cares. We pray because we've been invited to come before God's throne. Prayer keeps our channels with Him open. And, we continue in prayer perhaps because we have seen God move in response to our prayers in the past.
What do we expect? And, we come before God in order to present our requests - for ourselves and others. Because we serve a faithful God, we can know as we come before Him and pray according to His will laid out in His Word, or when we don't even know what to pray, He hears us and will respond in the manner that is best for us. It may not be what we think is best, but we can continue to rely on His love and power.
Isn't it interesting that older people pray more. It could be perhaps an indicator of the faith traditions of our country, but it could also be that there has been a bank of answered prayers that we have observed, which can help build our confidence in the Lord. Perhaps today, we can take some time to reflect on how we have seen God's faithfulness in our lives, and maybe even think on times when it seemed that God was silent or was not answering our prayers, but that we eventually knew that He had heard and answered.
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