Prayer is the fourth thing that Acts 2:42 tells us the first Christians were devoted to. They held closely to it, they committed to persisting in prayer in spite of resistance and struggle. Prayer was a defining characteristic of their lives.
If you have never read a Christian classic, I highly recommend Prayer by Ole Hallesby. It is possibly one of the best books on prayer ever written. As we begin to look at prayer this week, in connection with God’s plan for the church, and for all Christians, consider some of what Hallesby says:
To pray is nothing more involved than to let Jesus into our needs. To pray is to give Jesus permission to employ His powers in the alleviation of our distress…
The results of prayer are, therefore, not dependent upon the powers of the one who prays. His intense will, his fervent emotions, or his clear comprehension of what he is praying for are not the reasons why his prayers will be heard and answered. Nay, God be praised, the results of prayer are not dependent on these things…
For to pray is to open the door unto Jesus. And that requires no strength. It is only a question of our wills. Will we give Jesus access to our needs? That is the one great and fundamental question in connection with prayer.
One of the reasons Hallesby’s book is so helpful is that he takes the mystery and “hocus-pocus” out of prayer. Explained like it is above, prayer no longer seems like such a difficult enterprise. It even seems (gasp!) like anyone could do it.
There are two core questions that arise when we read that the first Christians devoted themselves to prayer. First: how did they make prayer central to their lives? What does a life devoted to prayer look like? And second is the question of methodology: how did they pray? What did it sound like? What “method” did they use?
The first question is perhaps the most important for us. The apostle Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to “pray continually.” How can this take place? How can a life be devoted to prayer? The first thing is to get rid of the idea that prayer is a formalized ritual wherein a person comes to God with a list of petitions and presents them in as spiritual a manner as possible. If that were the case, no one could “pray continually” (even super-Christians have to sleep!) And though it might still be theoretically possible to devote our lives to prayer, frankly it sounds like it would be pretty boring. You’d need to become a monk and have others support you and make knee pads for you. However, as Hallesby says, prayer is simply giving Jesus access to our lives. If we endeavor to be open to Jesus at all times and in all places, we will end up devoting ourselves to prayer. If we make a habit of opening up to Jesus in every situation, we will learn how to pray continually. I don’t want to minimize the power and usefulness of concentrated, deliberate prayer. Even so, we need to see that prayer is more than just the ten minutes we set aside, during which we list our requests and concerns to God. Prayer is a constant, ongoing connection with the Lord, which learns to release every aspect of our thoughts, circumstances and lives into the care of the loving heavenly Father.
Most often we simply think of prayer in terms of those special times when we purpose to pray. We sit down, fold our hands, (or lay them on someone) and then pray. Sometimes, we may wonder why these times aren’t more meaningful, or why we don’t experience more of God when we do it. For some, the answer to this is that they are not praying at any other times as they go throughout the day. What I mean is, some people go through the whole day without consciously giving Jesus access, and sort of keep prayer in its allotted time slot with their quiet time, or at church. In short, many of us only really pray when that is our consciously stated purpose for the time. Now it is important to set aside specific times when we do nothing except pray. But these are supposed to be just the pinnacle times of a whole life that is bathed in a constant referral of things to God. When we begin to live this way, we will start to yearn for times when we are doing nothing but praying, and we will start to experience His peace and presence more fully in those special times. What I’m trying to say is that we need to look at what we call “prayer times” (set aside for prayer and nothing else) as special times, while we give Jesus access at all times. It is true that there is no life devoted to prayer without those “special times” set aside purposefully for prayer alone. But there is also no devotion to prayer if we try to fit all of our praying just into those “special times” only. God designed prayer not just for the “prayer closet” but also for the construction site, the office and the ball field. He made things in such a way that our praying can take up a lifetime, in a very real and useful way. Make an experiment of this during the next week. Try to give Jesus access into whatever you are doing or saying, at each moment of your day. As concerns or people come to your mind, refer them to Him. When you need to make decisions, give Him permission to help you. You may find that sometimes you want to stop for a moment for more deliberate prayer.
The second major question was: how did they pray? Frankly, the only reason this is important at all, is because it can become a hindrance to prayer. Often people are intimidated by considering the praying of other people. We feel that we could never pray like them. In this connection, let’s consider a few more comments from Ole Hallesby:
Prayer is something deeper than words…Prayer is a definite attitude of our hearts toward God, an attitude which He in heaven immediately recognizes as prayer, an appeal to His heart. Whether it takes the form of words or not does not mean anything to God, only to ourselves.
What is this spiritual condition? What is that attitude of heart which God recognizes as prayer?
Hallesby explains that there are two essential conditions that, when taken together, God recognizes as prayer: helplessness and faith. Helplessness combined with faith equals prayer. Helplessness without faith is simply despair. Faith without helplessness is arrogance. But put the two together, and you have prayer.
Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Consider the helplessness of a baby, which so moves the hearts of its parents. A baby cannot formulate words, but its helplessness and dependence are a powerful appeal to the parents. Just as parents are continually occupied in helping their helpless newborn, so God is attuned to the cries of His helpless, dependent children. God does not “help those who help themselves.” If we ask God for something, but are actually relying on some other source for help, are we really praying? Are we truly depending helplessly on God? This helplessness applies also to our own inability to pray. When we feel so sin-ridden and worldly that we cannot see how our prayers can be answered, our very helplessness arises as a prayer to the Father.
Faith is also inseparable from prayer. Without faith, a person does not even turn to Jesus for help in the first place. Now, God does not need our faith to help Him answer our prayers – He just needs enough faith for us to say “yes Jesus,” to open the door and allow Him access. In case we might feel too helpless to have faith, or be concerned that we do not have a enough faith when we pray, let’s hear again from our friend Ole:
You and I can now tell how much faith we need in order to pray. We have faith enough when we in our helplessness turn to Jesus.
So you see, it doesn’t really matter how the first Christians prayed. They allowed themselves to be helpless before God, and they had enough faith to ask Him in to their lives and into specific situations. That’s all we need to do as well. I honestly don’t think God cares how your prayer sounds. He isn’t concerned about how long or short your prayers are. All he wants is access, and he can teach you how to have a life devoted to prayer.
In the interest of encouraging us to live a life of prayer and also to spend more time in concentrated prayer, I would like to briefly describe how God often responds to the prayers of his people.
You may not be aware, but several scientific studies have been done about the effectiveness of prayer. These studies have found that seriously ill hospital patients have a greater recovery rate, and speed of recovery when Christians pray for them. This is true even when the patients don't know they are being prayed for, and even when the patients themselves are not Christians. The results of some of these experiments were reported a few years ago by Reader's Digest. There is another study, done in 2006, which skeptics like to use, because it seems to suggest that prayer has no effect. But in this study, the “pray-ers” were made to pray a written, standardized prayer. Also, while in the previous studies, only people who called themselves born again Christians prayed for the hospital patients, in the 2006 study, this was not the case. So, actually the 2006 study affirms that the key to powerful effective prayer is not how you pray, but rather the fact that you have a relationship with Jesus. The point is even scientific study affirms what the bible says about prayer.
The Bible gives us numerous examples of people who prayed and saw God respond. Abraham prayed for a child, and received one after it seemed physically impossible. After the apostle Peter was imprisoned, the church prayed for his release, and got it through the intervention of an angel (Acts 12:6-19). King Hezekiah was told he was going to die. He prayed, and the Lord gave him fifteen more years (Isaiah 38). We don't have space here to consider the prayers of Nehemiah, Hannah, Gideon, David, Samuel, Hagar, Jacob, Moses, Daniel or the dozens more stories of God's people who turned to him in helplessness and faith, and saw him answer, often with more than they had asked for.
In prayer, as in the other things we've been studying recently, it is important to remember that part of devoting ourselves to it, means that we persist and keep at it, even over a long period of time. I've seen the Lord answer prayers in amazing ways in my own life. For three years in Minnesota, I prayed for the neighborhood where I lived, that God would save some of those who lived there. Nothing happened until that third year, and then, all of sudden the neighborhood exploded with people who came to faith and who became a part of our church. For five years, the entire time I was in seminary, Kari and I prayed for financial provision, because our expenses were greater than our income. God provided every day of those five years, often answering very specific financial circumstances.
Once a group of us prayed for a lady with Crohn's disease who was scheduled for surgery the next day. When she went in, the doctors did a preliminary exam, and found that now there was no reason to do the surgery. The problem they had seen before was gone. Another time we prayed for a leader in our church, and his back problems were healed. Last spring at our church retreat I began having a kidney stone attack (I have had kidney stones three times, and I know quite well what this feels like). The people there prayed for me, and it stopped almost immediately.
There is an organization called World Mission Prayer League. They have a yearly budget of around $2 million dollars. They do not raise support or ask for contributions. They simply ask God to supply what they need, and he does, every year. When they take on a new missionary, they say, “we'll just put another plate on the table and ask God to fill it.” He always does.
Before our family went to New Guinea as missionaries when I was a child, our visas were denied for six months. Finally my Grandmother called my mother on the phone. “OK, she said. I've finally stopped praying that you stay in the US.” Our visas came through within the week. God had honored her prayers, even though it wasn't according to his ultimate plan.
God answers prayer. It is powerful gift he gives us. James writes this:
Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him after anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit. (James 5:13-18)
Prayer also makes it easier to serve God. Maybe you don't know if you could share your faith with someone. Maybe you're shy about inviting people to church. Maybe you don't know anybody who isn't a Christian, or doesn't go to church. Perhaps you struggle to find the right words to say to someone who is hurting or needs advice. Even so, you can have a major impact through prayer. If all we do is devote ourselves to prayer, I believe with all my heart that God will have huge impact through our church on Wilson County, Smith County and the world. You can do that – you really can.
Let's take the lead from those first disciples, and devote ourselves to prayer.
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