***It should be noted that parts of this sermon have come from the fantastic resource Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala.***
My prayer for today is that we would all be challenged. Not that we would come to church expecting to leave feeling warm and fuzzy. But that, at the end of our time here, you and I would be moved closer to what Christ has for us. I have a list of goals for my life that I would like to see happen in the next few years. They’re not written anywhere, but they’re in the back of my head.
1)Start Master’s program
2)Beat Pastor John at squash, then golf
3)Develop a stronger prayer life
4)Leave witty notes of encouragement for Pastor John that his golf game can only get better
5)Learn Spanish
This is just part of my list of things I would like to do in the next year or so. We all have lists of things we would like to do in the next year, in the next week and even in the next day. And certainly there is nothing wrong with that. That’s a good thing. But often a goal that we miss is developing a deeper prayer life. Now, we all take a certain amount of time out with God. For some, it is an enriching hour every day. But for most of us, myself included, sometimes the busyness of daily demands begins to crowd out my time with God, and I buy into the lies that the enemy has placed in my life towards prayer C.S. Lewis wrote, “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists of shoving it all back, in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” When we allow the busyness of our lives to crowd in, our prayers can become vending machine prayers. We quickly put in our two cents and punch in the numbers for what we want. A4-forgiveness, or D3-a good day. It is a temptation to approach God from the throne of race, rather than meeting Him at the throne of grace.
Our passage of Scripture comes from Luke 10:38-42.
38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
When I look at this passage, I have to admit that I am a little confused. You know, if I had the Son of God over to my place for supper, I’d probably want to make Him something a little better than Kraft macaroni and cheese. I’d be running too! I’d be making sure nothing was out of order, that our dog Zoe wasn’t biting Jesus and that He was comfortable. So what was Martha’s problem? Was her desire to serve Jesus the problem? No, but we can see in verse forty that she was distracted. Martha was preoccupied with serving instead of sitting at Jesus’ feet. She was also feeling sorry for herself. She says, “Lord don’t you care…?” And Martha was demanding. She tells the Lord what she wants Him to do, instead of letting the Lord tell her what to do. And as the body of Christ, don’t we act in much the same way? We like to make sure that everything in our services are well-organized, that the church is clean, that nothing is uncomfortable that we forget about who we’re meeting. What would happen if one day, Pastor John got up here and said, “You know what family of Christ? I didn’t have time to prepare a sermon because I just felt I needed to pray this week?” Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to think, “But we need the sermon more than we need your prayer!?” We get caught up in setting our own personal agenda before God that we essentially move God into a box. Are we more concerned about finishing a Sunday service on time or that we’ve met with God in that time?
(taken from Fresh Wind...)Consider this, we are willing to pay upwards of $40 to hear a Christian artist play from his latest album, yet Jesus can’t draw a crowd in times of prayer. There are experts in the fields of parenting, marriage, church building strategies and how to get the most out of your life. Yet, the chance of divorce has never been higher, more churches are closing rather than expanding and still people are turning to drugs, sex and religion. So what is the issue? We have more specialized programs within the church from junior high through to small groups, from single mom’s classes to senior high worship night, so what is the issue? The problem is, we are so caught up not only in the world’s activity, but in good-intentioned Christian activity that we are not turning to what should be the most fundamental aspect of our lives.
Let us then, approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) It doesn’t say “let us come to the sermon, or let us come to the song, or let us come to the activity night. It says, let us come to the throne of grace, because God will hear us and will provide for all of our needs. It is easy to lose focus that God is here, God is available, just as He was with Mary and Martha. Instead of being so caught up in busy activity, we need to find ourselves at the feet of Christ and begin again to call out to Him in prayer.
In Revelations 5:8, it reads, “And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. It doesn’t say, the elders were holding golden bowls full of good looking churches, with nice pews and an orderly service. It doesn’t say the bowls were full of Christians who were happy and content and full of good deeds. No, these golden bowls were full of prayer. Pure prayer, cries out to God, requests, praise, adoration, confessions of sin, prayers for guidance. This thing that we call prayer is very important and valued by God.
I remember five or six years ago, when I was heading off to Bible College, I was thinking, now I will have all the answers in the Bible. Finally! I was so excited. Now, as I look back, I can’t remember most of the class lectures, I can’t recall any of the great debates of theology. I couldn’t even tell you what any of my essays were on. But there is one experience I will never forget. I walked out into the chapel and there were several hundred students gathered, and the aisles were filled and the front was filled with students broken down, weeping and praying before God. The sound and the feeling of the peace of God flowing through that chapel was incredible. The soft whispers of prayers being offered up to God filled the room, and you couldn’t escape the feeling of the presence of God. This isn’t some cutting edge method of prayer that was devised in the hyper spiritual atmosphere of Bible college
This prayer stuff was around long before the first Bible college formed. Before Christ, before David and even before Moses. The first mention of prayer happens all the way back in Genesis 4:25-26. Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the Lord. Before a Bible was available, before people were called the nation of Israel, before the first preacher was ordained, or Steps to Freedom In Christ, a godly strain of men and women distinguished themselves from their ungodly neighbors by calling on the Lord. They were not called Jews or Hebrews, or Christians or believers, their original name was “those who call on the name of the Lord.”
Now also notice God’s definition of wicked people, found in Psalm 14:4, “Will evildoers never learn – those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the Lord?” That is the divine definition of the ungodly. They will do many things, but they will not humble themselves and recognize God’s omnipotence by calling on his name with all their hearts.
The next characteristic to note about prayer’s importance to God is that salvation itself is impossible until a person humbly calls upon the name of the Lord. Acts 2:21 says, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The first act of salvation in every believer’s life starts in the humble position of prayer. It is here where we first meet with God. So does that mean that we get saved, then it becomes time to coast? Our prayer life is not meant to be a closet dweller, when the only time we use it is when we want to see change in our lives.
Prayer is so important to God that that’s how He chose to start the church. In Acts 2, we see that God instructed his small group of believers to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Now think of the people he had! A group of uneducated fishermen, a tax collector, one who outright denied Jesus, and at the first sign of adversity, they all fled. But yet, in Acts 2:42 ,we see that this same group of rag-tag unprofessionals “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”. Calling on the name of the Lord is essential to who we are as a church, and who we are as individual believers. In the chapter, we see that three thousand were added to the body of Christ that day. Why? It certainly wasn’t because the disciples had the ability. It was because they realized their deep need could only be met in God and they fell on their knees in prayer.
Prayer is a Christian’s life line. A Christian life without prayer is like having a baby in your arms and dressing her up so cute-but she’s not breathing! Never mind the frilly clothes; stabilize the child’s vital signs. Where better for the enemy to attack than to silence the desire to pray amongst God’s people? God desires a restored relationship with Him. If we have a relationship with Christ, then you are part of the family of God. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. But how can we go about or even know our Father’s business if we don’t talk to Him? I have to admit, it is far easier to run around and act Christian than to spend time with God in prayer. And I believe the enemy has cleverly worked his way in to our attitudes of prayer. Perhaps he has some of us buying into the common lies he has placed within the Christian body.
A man named Clarence Jordan had two PhD’s, one in agriculture and the other in Greek and Hebrew. He was so gifted he could have done anything he wanted. In 1940, he founded a farm which served as a community for the poor whites and blacks. As one might guess, this did not sit well in the south. Attempts were made to stop the business for 14 years. Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan came in with guns and torches and set fire to everything but the house, which they riddled with bullets. The next day, a reporter came and found Clarence hoeing his garden. “I heard the awful news,” he said. “Dr. Jordan, you’ve got two of them PhD’s and you’ve invested 14 years of your life in this farm and now there’s nothing left at all. Just how successful do you think you’ve been? Clarence stopped and answered, “About as successful as the cross, sir, I don’t think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We’re staying.” We are a culture that likes to see results and success. Something is deemed successful if it produces results. Lie number one of the enemy, busy lives equals success, importance and spiritualness. Prayer doesn’t always produce immediate results, so instead we should turn to busyness. Typically, when I approach prayer, I cram God in for thirty seconds here, two minutes there. When we are in prayer, God is glorified, and isn’t that what we’re here for? When’s the last time your family, my family, got together to pray together for a period of time longer than what we say at the dinner table? It feels as though down time with God is wasted time. Practically, this lie is played in the belief that a busy Christian is a spiritual Christian. At pastor’s conference, the keynote speaker from Billy Graham ministries said this, “A busy Christian is not a spiritual Christian.” It’s easy to get caught up in being busy for God. God wants the fullness of life for us. But what does that mean? Does it mean, “God I did this for you today? I went to work and I did a good job? I helped out with the junior high today, and I managed to fix a bike today too. God, I’m doing a lot for you now. I’m busy teaching Sunday school, and on weekdays I coach hockey and I see that we have this need here and what about meeting with my friends, God, I need to be there for them and I feel like I should get in shape so I will and What about the children?!?! God I’m really tired but I was super busy. I’ll spend time with you tomorrow. While we’re trying to fill our lives with activities, we miss the point. God wants us to pray to Him and meet with Him. It is then that our days get the most full. Psalm 46:10 say, Be still and know that I am God. God will not ask us on judgment day, “Well, how busy were you?” As the church, we need to be able to take several steps back, push the activities aside, and wait on God first, and then act only when He tells us to move. We are not a rotary club, busy in its activities. We are a body of Christ, who should be looking to God in our daily walk first before anything else.
The second lie that satan has subtly placed in our hearts is that prayer should be tried after all avenues have failed. The enemy’s main strategy within the church body is, “Don’t call, don’t ask, don’t depend on God to do great things. You’ll get along just fine if you rely on your own cleverness and energy.” How many times this week have we scurried around, trying to make sure the kids were fed, friends were met and jobs accomplished? And how many times, even in church settings, have we given lip service to God, asking for His blessing and went ahead with our own agendas? Two weeks ago, one of the elders approached me about praying for myself and the messages that God would give me. At the time, I thought, well, I can give maybe 10 minutes to that because the sermons aren’t finished yet. For myself, as a rookie, sermons can take anywhere from a week to a month to prepare. And as we prayed, God began to break down the walls in my heart, the busyness of my schedule, and bring me to a point where I wasn’t multi-tasking, I was sitting in the presence of God. And God provided all that I needed in terms of messages. James 4:2 says this You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. It is until we approach the throne of grace on our knees that we will begin to see the Holy Spirit work in our lives and the world around us.
The last lie of the enemy that has affected our attitude of prayer is that prayer is unreliable. One of the amazing things in my life is when I lose something. I’ll search for about 20 minutes, and then get so frustrated that I say, “God, I don’t want to waste any more time. Can you help me find this?” And honestly, every time I have found what I’m looking for. It’s God’s way of reminding me, “Shaun, rely on me even for the smallest of things.” But what about the more serious areas of our lives? When we see something that needs to happen, do we sit in our carnal nature and say, “Wow. I need to do something or else nothing will happen?” Jesus launched the Christian church, not while someone was preaching or by any human plan, but while people were praying? What does that say to our churches today, where times of prayer are just a small part of a larger program? I remember going to the prayer meeting at IDCI, and someone remarked how awful it was that prayer was going to be taken out of our schools. Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle makes an excellent point in saying, “I am sure that the Roman emperors didn’t have prayer to God in their schools. But then, the early Christians didn’t seem to care what Caligula or Claudius or Nero did. How could any emperor stop God? How, in fact could the demons of hell make headway when God’s people prayed and called upon his name? Impossible!” Jeremiah 29:13 says You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart and Matthew 7:7 follows Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Let’s not play games here. Let’s not divert attention away from the fact that in our churches, we are in a desert of prayer! Why should we be so concerned with prayer in our school, when we don’t even consider it seriously in the church? In Acts 4, when the apostles were unjustly arrested, they didn’t reach for some political leverage, they prayed. We need to have this instinct: when in trouble, pray, when driving, pray, when challenged, pray, when waking up, pray. This is no secret. When God’s people are called back to prayer, then the Spirit is poured out and amazing things happen in the body of Christ.
The average person lives 77 years, 28000 days, or 670,000 hours. The average person spends 40 minutes on the telephone or 2 years in a lifetime, watches 3 hrs of tv/day, 9 years in a lifetime, spends one hour/day in the bathroom for a total of 3 years in the bathroom. The average Christian spends less than 10 minutes a day with the God of the universe, the truest friend. That’s less than 6 h a month, 3 days a year, less than 7 months in a lifetime. This isn’t meant to guilt us into praying. Prayer isn’t forced or coerced. But what has happened in the lives of believers that we do not sense a deep need for prayer in our lives?
It is not a far stretch to look at the North American church and realize that we have become a busy, activity driven church that has lost the desire to pray. Mark 11:15-18 reads: 15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: " ’My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ’a den of robbers.’ " 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
Consider this for a moment. The temple in this verse was filled with money changers and merchants. But they weren’t really doing anything wrong, were they? The money changers were making it easy for the temple tax to be paid. People had various currencies, so the money changers were just adding to the ease of worship. And what about those who had come from a distance? They couldn’t bring their animals from all over into Jerusalem. They were just trying to help the program along….Of course, they added a huge markup to their price too. Jesus is not impressed with how many people attend the Sunday service or how many programs we have for our kids, or our teens or our adults. A.C. Dixon wrote, “When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do.”
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, it reads, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” We are the temple of God! Have we allowed ourselves to become cluttered with the busyness of life, even the busyness of Christian life that we have squeezed out the one aspect that God desires the most? “My house will be called a house of prayer!” It doesn’t say that we are called to be a house of good works. It doesn’t say we are to be a people of many programs, of efficient lives, of excellent parenting or of fantastic cooking. All of these are great things that we should do, but at the root of everything we are to be a people of prayer.
In Luke 22:39-46, we see the most amazing role model one could have. Jesus, the Son of God, praying:
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[1]
When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."
God is calling us to an abundant life, a life of prayer. Are we desiring to become more like Christ, who prays desperately for the Father’s will to be done in His own life, or are we more like Jesus’ disciples, asleep?
The fact is, we have the largest resource of strength than anyone can create in the entire world. Are we tired today? We can pray for you. Are you feeling like God is distant? We can pray for you. Are you feeling empty, tired, emotionally bankrupt? Are you dressed up for church, but all you want to do I cry? God calls us to be a people of prayer. I’d love to pray for you, there’s people who are here who would love to pray with you. We all have deep needs in our life and the truth is that God is here and He’ll be with you in three hours when you’re at home and we can reach out to Him in prayer.
This prayer stuff is important to God. It’s not about a one-step process where we pray today, but then by Thursday we’ve been put to sleep. The fullest life we could have is when we are in a lifestyle of prayer. It doesn’t matter the style you pray in. The power of God will descend more and more in your life when prayer becomes your lifestyle.
I’ll end with this story. This story comes from Rev. Luther Gibbs, a pastor in Kingston, Jamaica. There were two streams standing at the foot of a mountain. On top of the mountain was a great lake and in front of it, a great desert. Both streams wanted to water the desert, and one day they began to deliberate about how to go about it. “I think that to be successful, we must find a way to climb the mountain and get attached to the lake,” said one stream. “What a waste of time!” the other stream retorted. “You’ll never make it. And besides, look at all this parched land just crying out for water. I’m going on.”
So the second stream flowed out into the desert. As the sun got hotter and hotter and the land got dryer and dryer, the stream got smaller and smaller. Eventually it faded because it had no resources. In the meantime, the first stream was struggling up the mountain. It was a long, arduous climb, but finally the stream joined the lake and asked, “Will you help me to go out and water the desert?” “I will” was the answer. So together the lake and the stream flowed down the mountain and into the desert, making the dry land rich and fertile.
Just as prayer helps me to do what the stream did, “explains Rev. Gibbs, “to make myself one with the resource of the lake. With prayer, my life and ministry to others are constantly watered. Without it, I’m all dried up.”
Wherever you may be in this week, from prayerful to prayerless, perhaps you’re thirsty for more of God, perhaps you’re desiring a fresh touch from Him. God is here in this place. All He asks from us is this: “Be still, and know that I am God.” He wants to meet with you today.
Let’s pray.
