Are You to busy to Pray?
Pastor Glenn Newton
11-13-05
How many of you had a busy week this week? Is there really any week that doesn’t feel busy? Many of you work many hours during the week, plus you give time to your children, to the events and ballgames that seem to never end, right? Many of you on top of that, you minister in the church by teaching on Wed. nights, or Sunday nights… or you serve the church in some other capacity.. We have many who really do give of themselves every week… I know how busy most of you are.
Working a 40 hour job on top of Pastoring this church has helped me realize what kind of time and energy pressures many of you are under. Today I’m not here to try and squeeze more out of you, I’m not challenging you do more than you are already doing….. Aren’t you glad?
Today, I understand that you are a busy bunch of people…. What I want you to hear is this….. The Truth is, we are to busy Not to pray. With the pressures and schedules that we keep, if we are not praying and spending some time with Our Lord, we will crash and burn… we will be like that engine that is running hard, but the oil has all leaked out, and before long, without some more oil being poured in, that engine will lock up and be ruined…. And that’s what life is like without prayer, real meaningful prayer.
Today we are going to learn some habits that will help us in our prayer life. Are you ready?
Before I begin to share some of these habits that can dramatically change our prayer life, I need to show you that yes, even though you are busy…. You still have time that can be used for prayer…. So let’s take a little quiz…. This is just for you…. To help you realize that there is some time at your disposal.
READ Quiz. Give time to answer.
Please understand this… they quiz is not to put you on a guilt trip, but instead to realize that there is always some time available, it’s just a matter of how will I prioritize it.
Let’s look at our Passage this morning… turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 6:5-13 READ NIV… then “the Message” on screen
Matthew 6:5-13 in "The Message"
"And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
"Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
"The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
"Our Father in heaven.
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right:
Do what’s best -
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
This morning I want to share with you 4 Prayer Principles that Jesus is teaching in our passage in Matthew 6.… These could also be called 4 healthy habits for your Spiritual Life…. How many of you could use some healthy habits in your life?
Prayer Principle Number 1
Pray Regularly.
Jesus said, "When you pray," not "if you pray."
Jesus simply assumed the disciples would have a regular time for prayer. That’s an assumption that I’m not sure we can make about Jesus’ disciples today.
I know from talking to Christians through the years about their spiritual lives, their problems, their lives… that a regular, intimate prayer time is not apart of their daily routine in many cases.
The truth is that we need to be as serious about our prayer time with God as we are with our Food for our bodies.. Amen? That food gives us energy and nutrition to get through the day… can you imagine how you would feel if you went without eating for a couple of days and tried to go to work and do all the things that are required of you? You wouldn’t be up to par would you?
Our regular prayer time is that Spiritual meal that we need each day to let the Spirit of God to refresh us, to tune us into what God is doing. One thing that I have found to be true, no matter how busy people are….
People who are serious about something always make room for it in their schedules!
How serious are you about growing in your spiritual life? What will you do?
Prayer Principle Number 2
Pray Privately. Matthew 6:6 “ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” The Message says, "Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
I believe there are at least a couple of reasons Jesus gave this instruction on getting by yourself, making your prayer time a private time.
First, Jesus tells us to get away… Get away from the distractions.. Find a place and time when the phone won’t be ringing, when the kids won’t come knocking, when you can have a time all to yourself, so you can give all of yourself to Him.
How many of you have tried to get away, to your place of prayer and found yourself being distracted by the smallest of things? I used to have a clock in my office that ticked really loud. I would start praying and before I knew it, I would be listening to that clock tick, totally off line with God. The clock had to go. Do what ever you need to so that you can focus on God, allowing Him to speak to you.
I believe it was John Wesley’s Mom, with 13 or 14 children in the household she had a touch time finding a spot… if I remember correctly, she would put a blanket over her head in a certain spot in the house, and the kids knew that Mom was talking to God and that they were to not interrupt her time….. I don’t know if you will need to do that or not.. But getting alone is what Jesus Christ taught his disciples to do, and I believe it’s what He wants us to do.
There’s a second reason I believe Jesus tells us to get away to a quiet place. That place that you go becomes a sacred place. That place of prayer that you go to will become special to you, it will have it’s own special atmosphere… you will look forward to going there.
Do you and your spouse have a favorite restaurant that you go to on a date?
Does your family have a favorite place to go and spend vacation time?
The reasons we have favorite places is because of the fond memories, the special times that we shared there together, right? My place of prayer will become one of those places as Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe speaks to me, tells me how much He loves me, reminds me that I’m special to Him….. My place of prayer will become a Holy place, not because it’s special in it’s location… it’s special because of what happens there between me and my Savior. Do you have that special place…. Don’t wait any longer… think about your place, where could it be? Is it at home? Maybe it’s at work?
When your schedule changes, sometimes your routine changes, and your place of prayer might have to change. Just recently, my supervisor at work realized that myself and the other aide at school were supposed to have 30 minutes for lunch, away from the kids… so now, after we are done eating, I have 30 minutes to get away. Finding a place at the school isn’t that easy, but what I have been doing is going to my van and spending my 30 minutes in my van, praying, listening for God’s direction in my life… it has become a special time, and a special place… no distractions….
Prayer Principle Number 3
Pray Sincerely.
The truth is we need to just pray from our hearts… Be real with God, I promise He can handle it. Jesus said, “Do not keep on babbling”…. I think what he was saying is don’t fall into the habit of using meaningless repetition. If we say the same thing over and over again, does it lose it’s meaning? It can. I don’t greet my wife with the exact same words every day… I don’t say the exact same thing to you every time I see you do I? If I did, you would think I was fake wouldn’t you? If we say the exact same thing to God every time we talk to Him, I wonder what He thinks?
Many times we pray and we don’t even think about what we are saying… Let me give you an example: “Dear Lord, please be with me as I go on this new job interview,” or “Please be with me as I go on this trip.” That sounds pretty normal doesn’t it, in fact we have all prayed that kind of prayer haven’t we?
It doesn’t really make sense thought does it? Why do we ask God to do what he is already doing? In Matt. 28:20 Jesus says, “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” In Hebrews 13:5 God says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” One of the names of Jesus that we will sing about during our Christmas celebration is Emmanuel, which means what? “God With Us”.
When your apart of His family you don’t have to ask Him to be with you… He already is.. Amen? Maybe instead we should ask God to make us more aware of His presence in our lives everyday, helping us to be confident knowing He is with us.
My point this morning is to talk to God Sincerely, not just with the fancy church jargon that you and I have learned. Fancy prayers with big words don’t impress God one bit. Sincere prayers are what warms God’s heart.
Prayer Principle Number 4
Pray Specifically.
Take the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer as a model.
Jesus gave us the "Lord’s Prayer" as a model, not to copy every time we pray, but to give us ideas of what can be included in our prayers... like Worship, Submission, Requests, Confessions.
One way to really enhance your prayer life, write your prayer out, a prayer journal. This is a great way to write down your feelings, your problems, you can be honest and evaluate your spiritual life and by doing so, it will help you to grow and know the areas you are dealing with… and as you continue to journal you will see real growth, you will be able to go back and see how God has answered your prayers and brought you along in your journey.
For the miracle of prayer to begin operating in our lives, we must finally do only one thing: we must Pray!
ps... a couple illustrations used from sermon central sermons...
