Jamesville Community Church

Psalm 85

Lord, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation towards us.
5 Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.*
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.

10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.

Luke 11:1-13
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ 2He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father,* hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.*
3 Give us each day our daily bread.*
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’*
5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for* a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit* to those who ask him!’


Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went grocery shopping with his mother.

Before they Entered the store…
His mom had some specific Instructions for the little boy.

“You’re not gonna Get any cookies or candy… (she said)…
So don’t Bother Begging for it.”

Things went fine… UNTIL they came to the COOKIE section.
The little fellow Forgot all about his mother’s instructions… and asked:

“Can I have some chocolate chip cookies?...
Can I please… mom… please?”

“I Told you… not to ASK… (she said)…
“The answer is NO!”

The boy was disappointed… but managed to Contain himself…

That is until his mother Forgot something…
and they had to walk by the Cookies Again.

“Please, mom… can I PLEASE have some chocolate chip cookies.”

“NO… Now Sit down in the cart… and be Quiet.”
(pause)

Finally… they arrived at the Checkout…

And there… at the checkout… was a large Stack…
of Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It was more than the little boy could Bear…

He stood up in his seat… (fold hands)
And with his Loudest Voice… Begged:

“In the name of JESUS…
may I Please have some chocolate chip cookies.”

(pause)

Well… thanks to the generosity of the customers and the staff
Who heard the Pleading…
The Boy Left with 23 Boxes of chocolate chip cookies!
(E Sermons.com)

(pause)

When asked about prayer… Jesus told his disciples:

“Ask and it will be given you;
Search and you will find,
Knock and the door will be opened.

“Is there anyone among you” (Jesus continued)
“who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish:
Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
“If You then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

If WE break down and give our children something of questionable worth… Simply because they ASK…

How much MORE… God will give US something good and Holy…
IF… we but ASK. If we Simply ASK.

(pause)


“Lord… Teach us how to PRAY.”… Jesus’ Disciples asked.
“Teach us how to Pray.”

(pause)

It is interesting… but PRAYER is the ONLY Subject…
that the Disciples ASKED to be instructed on.

For 3 years… Jesus taught his disciples…
about things they didn’t even want to Hear…

But they WANTED to learn… about PRAYER.

They saw how Powerful prayer was in Jesus’ life…
And they wanted to learn HOW.

“Lord… teach us to pray.”

(pause)

And so… Jesus Taught them…
When you pray… pray like this:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
As we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trail.

And of course… this has been honed and polished over the years… into… our “Lord’s Prayer.”(pause)

The Lord’s prayer shows us…
that there IS… a PATTERN to prayer. (repeat)

(pause)

It begins with an acknowledgement of who God is…
“Our Father (Mother, Parent… Creator)… HALLOWED be thy name.”

It includes a request that our NEEDS be met…
“Give us this day our daily bread.” (please FEED us, Lord)

It also asks that our SINS be Forgiven…

And that God Help us to Sin No More…
“Lead us Not into Temptation.”

The Gospel of Matthew adds the familiar phrase:
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Prayer includes a commitment to Do what GOD would have us Do.

(pause)

And so…when we pray…
We pray to God - Almighty…
We pray for the things we Need…
We pray that our sins are forgiven…
And We pray for God’s help in turning our lives around.

(pause)


And the more we PRACTICE PRAYER…

The more SKILLED we become…
Not only in SPEAKING to God…
But in LISTENING to God.

(pause)

There is a PATTERN to prayer…
Our Lord’s prayer gives us that pattern…

Prayer can be LEARNED… and practiced… and Improved upon…
Honed and Polished.

(pause)

But at the same time… Real Prayer…
HAS to come from the HEART and the Soul… NOT from the Head.

We might be able to LEARN it… We can IMPROVE it…
But Prayer Still needs to come from the HEART.

“In the name of Jesus… Can I Please have some COOKIES!”

THAT’S a Real Prayer!

(pause)

When I VISIT with people… or COUNSEL with people…
I almost Always… offer a PRAYER…

It could be a prayer for Healing…
Or for Wisdom or for Comfort…
Or maybe even a prayer of Thanksgiving…

I offer a prayer Because it is Good… and Well… Because it’s my JOB.

But I Often Wonder:

Who is God REALLY Listening to…
WHO’S prayer REALLY Matters to God…

The educated Words of an ordained minister…

Or the Heart Felt… LONGINGS… of any of YOU?

(pause)

You know… in the book of Romans… the Apostle Paul tells us that:

“We do not KNOW HOW to pray as we Ought…
But the Spirit Helps us…
In our Weakness… the Spirit Intercedes with Groans too deep for words.” (repeat) (end of ch. 8)

You see…no matter how much we LEARN about prayer…
No matter how much we Practice prayer…

It is still the “Groans of our Spirits”…
Our Sobs… and our Unspoken Thoughts…
That God Really Hears.


(pause)


That’s a comforting thought…

Even though Prayer can be Learned… and Practiced… and Improved upon…

It is still… the “Groans of our Spirits” that God Really hears.

(pause)

Another thing that Jesus teaches us about Prayer…
Is that PERSISTENCE is important. (repeat)
He reminds us that if we are Persistent with our FRIENDS…
They will often do what we ask…

Even when a child is PERSISTENT with its Parents…
The Parents will often do what the Child wants.

If we are PERSISTENT in prayer…
AND we pray for Good and Holy Things…
We may not get exactly what we Pray for…

But just the fact that we have an Active and Healthy Prayer Life…
Will bring Our Spirits in Alignment with God’s…

If we Practice Prayer… our Spirits will be BLESSED.

“If you then,” (Jesus said)… “who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

(pause)

Which brings us to our Last point…

PRAYER WORKS. (repeat)

(pause)

To the UNBELIEVER…
Christian prayer looks like we are talking to ourselves…

But… those who Pray Persistently KNOW… that Prayer Works.


(pause)


Now… Obviously… we don’t always GET what we WANT…

If we did… NONE of us would get sick…
All of our Families would be Happy…

And I would be playing Golf on the PGA Tour…

IF we got… Everything we WANTED.

(pause)

But if we are Persistent… God has Promised to give us God’s Spirit…

And if we Practice… we can Learn… not only how to Speak to God…
But also… how to LISTEN to God.

(pause)


When we think of Prayer WORKING…
we usually think of GETTING… what we WANT.

If we pray for HEALING… and someone is HEALED…
we think the prayer WORKED…

If they are not HEALED… it Didn’t Work.

And so we ask ourselves:

Did we pray WRONG?
Did we use the Wrong Formula?
Was God simply Not LISTENING?
Did we not have enough Faith?

(pause)


No…
Even though we don’t always get what we Want…
Prayer DOES bring us Closer to God.

(pause)


They say that if you are Caught falling Asleep at Work…
(head down)

THIS is the way OUT of it:

“In Jesus name. Amen!”
(Lift Head)


(pause)


That seems to be the Magical Phrase, doesn’t it? …
In Jesus name, Amen.

After all… the Bible Does say:
“If you ask for Anything in my name… you shall receive it.”


(pause)


When I was 15 years old… like Most boys…
I had my Eye… on a certain 15 year old GIRL.

I wanted Valerie VanStein… to go the school dance with me…

But asking a girl OUT… is about the most ANXIOUS thing that a boy can do.

What if she REJECTS me?
I don’t think that I could Bear the Humiliation of that.

I was exploring the Bible at the time…
And came across a passage… about Prayer… like the one for today.


“Ask... and you shall Receive”…
“If you ask for Anything in my name… you shall receive it.”

Well… ANYTHING means Anything…
All we have to do is to pray with Faith…
And to add that magical phrase: “In the name of Jesus.”

So… for 3 days… I Prayed:
“Please, Lord… let Valerie say YES…
“IN THE NAME OF JESUS… let her say Yes.”

(pause)

She said NO…
And I was Devastated.

(pause)

But you know… in my heart of hearts…
I knew that Prayer didn’t Work that way.

Prayer is not a Genie in a Bottle or a Leprechaun that gives us free WISHES…

Rather Prayer… is our earnest and sincere… TALKING with God.

(pause)

A mother sent her fifth grade boy up to bed.

And when she stuck her head in his door to make sure he was doing as he was told…
she saw that the little boy Kneeling at his bedside in prayer.

She heard her son praying over and over again.
"Let it be Tokyo! Please dear God, let it be Tokyo!"
When he finished his prayers, she asked him,
"What did you mean, 'Let it be Tokyo'?"