Lewis Memorial
08-23-09
P.R.A.Y. – 4
1 Thessalonians 5: 14-22

 

John Wesley, the father of Methodism, had a lot to say about prayer. He spent at least 2 hours a day in prayer and once said that he has so much to do and doesn’t see how he can get it all done, but he still prayed 2 hours every morning before he did anything else. One of my favorite quotes of his on prayer is “Prayer is where the action is!”

I looked up some other quotes on prayer and this is what I found:

“Don’t pray when you feel like it! Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” Corrie ten Boom

“To get nations back on their feet we must first get down on our knees.” Billy Graham

“Wishing will never be a substitute for prayer.” Ed Cole (Christian author and founder of Christian Men’s Network)

Corrie ten Boom also asked once, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

 

There are probably hundreds of thousands of quotes on prayer by thousands of people. Some are funny and some are serious and many of them are very similar. But the only one that matters is yours! Now most of us probably don’t have our own coined quote on prayer, but all of us have something that stirs within us when we talk about prayer. All of us in this place today could probably share something about the power of prayer and the difference it has made in our lives. I hope you have heard some new things about prayer over the past three Sundays.

This is the last of the 4 week series on prayer. The P is for praise, the R stands for results, the A is for attitude and today we look at the Y as it stands for Year-Round! The Y was a hard one but don’t you think that church folks should pray year round? All of us, as followers of Jesus Christ, should know the importance of prayer and the incredible power it can have.

On that first Pentecost day so many centuries ago we are told that around 3000 people received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Church was formed. Read Acts 2 sometime today or this week and you will see the excitement of that day almost jump off of the pages. I believe the people that formed that very first official gathering of God’s people under the name of Jesus Christ, received the power of the Holy Spirit and they began praying for each other. And it has never stopped since then. It is now you and I who are to do the praying year round.

Let’s look at 1Thessalonians 5: 17-18 again for a few moments this morning. The Apostle Paul wrote this first of 2 letters to the Christians in the church he started in Thessalonica. Some of the non-believers opposed Paul and so he had to flee to Greece. So he sent this letter to encourage the church and the followers of Christ. He told them in verse 16 to try to always show joy and here in chapter 5:17-18 Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” How can we rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances? These are two very difficult things that Paul has asked the church to do. How is it possible?

Paul knew of only one way – through prayer! It is through prayer that we stay connected to God and that connection makes it possible for us to always rejoice and always give thanks no matter what is going on with us or around us.

Paul said that the people in the church – mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, singles, widowed, and even children – should pray without ceasing! Never stop praying! Pray all the time! This doesn’t mean that you do as Jesus instructed and go to your closet or room, shut the door, start praying and never come out. It means that every day God gives you is an opportunity to go to Him in prayer. Praying year-round, without ceasing, also means that you don’t give up hope and you have faith in what you are praying about AND to whom you are praying. Another great quote I heard once about prayer is that prayer is asking for rain and faith is carrying an umbrella.

Praying without ceasing means it doesn’t matter whether you are rejoicing or dealing with hard times you are to pray. It means that you don’t have to wait until you are in church on Sunday morning to pray or that your prayer is a once a day thing either. Let the Holy Spirit lead you to pray. There’s a hymn in our UM Hymnal titled I’m Goin A Sing When the Spirit Says Sing and the second verse of that song says, “I’m gonna pray when the spirit says pray!” There’s another hymn in here titled Every Time I Feel the Spirit and its words say it perfectly – “Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart I will pray!” The Bible tells us that it is the work of the Holy Spirit that helps us to pray and that it even guides us as to what we are to pray. But how can we do this? How can we pray without ceasing; never stop praying; pray all the time? Here are a few ways that may help remind us: 1) Don’t end your prayer with Amen…… 2) Be reminded throughout the day….sirens…. 3) Be a year-round prayer – calendar events…….. 4) Daily devotions or journaling….. 5) Prayer partners…………..

Thank you to all of you who pray without ceasing! Thank you church for praying all the time!

Hear these words again from the Apostle Paul: Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing! Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you! It is God’s will for you to pray to Him…….

Praying is one of those things that might become more of a habit than a deep, spiritual experience. Sometimes I feel like I pray the same, old prayer day in and day out and I wonder if God gets tired of hearing me repeating myself. I even sometimes try to creatively say the same daily prayers in a different way. But I have decided that God wants to hear my same, old prayer because He wants me to spend time with Him. Sometimes this is just a few seconds of time and other times it’s longer, but I believe God loves every second I spend just with Him.

Praise the Lord in your prayers! Wait patiently for the results of your prayers! Have the right attitude as you pray! And be a year-round pray-er! And may we all feel God’s presence with us as we have a little talk with our Lord throughout every day He gives us. For we know, down deep inside, that God will take care of us. God will take care of His people through a Christ centered church. And as long as we stay connected to God through our prayers then we know without a doubt that God is always with us. He’s just a prayer away!