Learning to Pray

Posted on by Japanese Congregational Church

Luke 11:1; John 5:19

For the next several sermons we’ll be exploring the area of prayer. We’ll be using a resource provided by the Evangelical Covenant Church title “Deeply Rooted – A Call to Prayer”. It’s a series of 6 studies and our first study today is entitled “Learning to Pray.” The following sermon is based on an outline by Clay Peck, the lead pastor at Grace Place in Berthoud, Colorado.

Many of us struggle to pray – it seems like it should be simple, but often it’s not. Do you find it hard to pray?   To be honest, I’ve struggled with prayer for over 60 years. Sometimes it’s been a wonderful gift and happened easily….at other times it has been a struggle just to find the time and interest to pray.

Of course, we’re all different….. and the joys and difficulties of prayer vary a great deal during different periods of our lives. Why is prayer sometimes hard? Why do so many people struggle to pray? Here are a few possibilities:

  • Too independent? 
    • I trust myself and my own talents and efforts and wisdom
    • I believe God is there, but he’s probably busy.
    • If I’m really in trouble – of course I’ll ask for help
    • Or….if I have a plan that I want him to bless, I’ll check in
    • But basically, I trust myself for most things.
  • Too distracted?
    • I’m so busy, working on important things, or just wasting time
    • I’m consumed with work, multiple opportunities for entertainment, I want information
    • Bombarded by info / smartphones / noise all around us
    • I find it impossible to center my heart
  • Too Grown Up?
    • I’m not a brand new Christian. Not a little kid. God’s important with bigger things to deal with,　and so am I…
    • What’s the point of talking to God about what he already knows?
    • Why should I bother God with details that aren’t that important?
    • I’ve moved beyond child-like faith; I’m grown up and become more “sophisticated”.
  • Too cerebral?  
    • More head than heart / More theory more than practice
    • More thinking than feeling
    • I think more about prayer than actually praying!
  • Too Cynical?
    • Maybe I’ve built up scar tissue from past disappointments
    • I start to question God’s goodness, I develop doubts
    • I wonder…..does prayer really make a difference?
    • Maybe that answer to prayer was just a coincidence?
    • Cynicism protects me from disappointment but cynicism paralyzes me from action
    • For a cynic prayer feels phony, because much of life is already phony

This isn’t a complete list. Maybe you don’t identify with all of the above. Or maybe you’ve experienced other problems and issues that keep you from praying? How can we learn to pray effectively?

Luke 11:1　One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

The disciples watch Jesus and listen to Jesus praying….and then ask Jesus to teach them. How can we pray more effectively?  What can we learn from the example of Jesus and his disciples? Here are a few things that we can see in the example and teachings of Jesus himself:

  • A sense of helplessness and dependence
    • John 5:19  Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Jesus states that he can do nothing of real import, no kingdom work, no bearing of fruit that really lasts for eternity or brings glory to God….unless, he’s connected to his father.
    • John 15:5  “I am the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus then also relates this to us. In the same way… we can do NOTHING if we aren’t connected to Jesus!
    • Prayer only starts to make sense when we realize the level of our helplessness.
    • If I’m not praying, could that mean that I’m too confident in my own resources?
    • The fact is, if I’m confident that I can do life on my own….I will not pray.
  • Making time for prayer
    • Mark 1:35  – Jesus rose early in the morning, while it was still dark, sought a solitary place to get away from the noise and distractions… in order to pray and spend time with his father. Could this be important for us as well?
    • Prayer doesn’t offer a less busy life. It offers a less busy heart. 
    • The Japanese Kanji (character) for the word “busy” is made up of two radicals: heart   心　　　and die  亡. When put together it looks like this:  忙　It’s read “isogashii”  The very definition of “busyness” in Japanese is a “heart that is dying”, i.e., one that is not calm and centered!
    • You can’t create intimacy. But you can allow space and time for it. (with spouse, friends, and God) Busyness kills intimacy. You can’t get to know God on the fly.
  • Becoming more like a child
    • Matthew 18:1-5  –  Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? The disciples were arguing about this…and asked Jesus. He took a small child, put the child in their midst, and said “unless you become like this little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” What did he mean?
    • What are children like? How can we be child-like in prayer?  Children are usually honest, abrupt, messy, playful, trusting… Our prayers need to show these qualities. We need to come before the Lord as we are: messy, helpless, trusting, honest, etc. I want to bring my real self to Jesus, not a pretend self. Come expectant and eager. Come with a playful heart.
  • Growing deeper in love
    • Even as Jesus expressed deep love for his father – “I and my father are one” he expressed love for his disciples (and all those around him) and by extension – for all of us! This becomes clear throughout the gospel accounts.
    • So as my prayer life grows, I will grow in my love for Jesus
    • Rev. 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” We are invited into a close relationship with Jesus. (To sit together at a table, eating, enjoying each other, sharing a conversation and relationship.)
    • I need to focus less on prayer, more on God. Prayer is a conversation. When conversing…we don’t concentrate on the conversation….but on the person. It would be like driving….and looking AT the windshield….rather than THROUGH it. Prayer is not the point. Getting to know God is the point.
  • Fully trusting in the Lord
    • Even as Jesus put his full trust in the will and plan of his father “Lord, not my will but YOURS be done” ….so we are invited to place our full trust in God.
    • This posture of “completely trusting” is NOT something we master or learn once for all. It is a growing, a maturing of our faith…that comes about, partly, through expressing this trust in our prayer life.
    • There are texts that indicate that if our faith was even the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains! In another place scripture says “you don’t have it, because you haven’t asked for it.” But there have been many times when I’ve prayed in faith….and yet didn’t receive the answer I had hoped for. And there have been many times when I’ve specifically asked for something….and didn’t receive it. How do we process and understand this?
    • As we walk in faith, remaining in God’s word and prayer… we begin to realize that we never understand the complete picture. God is ALWAYS working in the background, on our behalf, in love and care….with the goal of our GOOD in mind, as we read in Romans 8:28. While we rarely understand all that is happening, God gives us glimpses of his amazing work on our behalf….enough to create in us a belief and deep sense of trust in his love and care.

Last week we sang the well-known hymn “This is My Father’s World” in worship. The last verse of the hymn beautifully describes this heart of fully trusting God!

This is my Father’s World, Oh let me ne’er forget

That though the wrong seems oft so strong

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world, Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is king; let the heavens ring

God reigns; let the earth be glad!

As we learn to pray, let’s remember some of these things that we can see in Jesus and his disciples:

  1. Total helplessness, total dependence on God
  2. The importance of making space and time for prayer
  3. Becoming like a child…
  4. Growing in my love for Jesus
  5. Learning to put my full trust in the Lord

Can you see how these examples of Jesus become the exact solutions to my original problems?

Too Independent                               Total dependence on God

Too distracted                                     Making time for prayer

Too grown-up                                     Becoming like a child

Too Cerebral                                       Growing in my Love for Jesus

Too Cynical                                          Learning to trust

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

(the above summary is from the sermon shared in worship on January 7, 2023.)