Why Do We Pray? part 1 of 4

I had the opportunity to teach on Sunday and kick off our three week series on prayer. Just like last time, I’m including a web-log version of my sermon for those of you who may have missed it on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, there is way too much information to fit into one web-log and have any hope of you reading. So, it looks like we have the makings of our first blog series!

After a lot of reflection on the subject of prayer, I realize that I am probably completely unqualified to teach. My study and reflection on this subject forced me back to one question: why don’t we pray?

I know that I am not alone in the company of well-taught, intelligent Christians who simply don’t pray. Or if they do, they don’t pray nearly enough. On Sunday, we listed a few of the reasons, and found that prayer can seem boring, selfish or futile.

As I examined my own reasons why I don’t pray, I was struck with an amazing realization of how closely tied prayer and God’s sovereignty are to each other. We will examine this in a few days.

In light of all of the reasons why we don’t pray, I came up with some reasons why more fully later as we examine the topic of Sunday’s lesson: Why Do We Pray. For Sunday’s lesson, I had four reasons. Here they are:

1. Because We Can
2. Because Prayer Changes Us
3. Because Prayer Teaches us About God’s Sovereignty
4. Because God Answers

I’ll just talk about the first one today

1. Because We Can

Hebrews 4:16 presents an amazing concept. We can actually approach God’s throne completely on our own. Some translations translate this as approaching the throne of grace “boldly,” and I think this may be a bit more of an accurate depiction.

We discussed on Sunday the nature of this boldness – “suing God” for His promises. In Luke 11:5-13, we see a parable that illustrates both the nature of our prayer and God’s response. This is a story about a man who goes to his neighbor in the middle of the night and pleads with him to give him three loaves of bread (flat-bread – enough for one meal) because a guest has arrived unexpectedly.

The nature of this man’s pleading is shameless, bold, and without gall. This man sets aside all sense of shame and rouses the entire family next door in his attempt to get what he needs.

Christ is our mediator – our High Priest. It is amazing to think that, through prayer, we can speak to the God of the Universe. People get nervous and bashful when they try to talk to movie stars or powerful politicians, but these are just people! Imagine… we have access to our maker, and he asks us to approach Him boldly, with importunity. The fact that we can approach God should be all the reason we need to pray. The fact that he listens and delights in answering should motivate us to do it more often.

So what about you? What are things that keep you from praying?