11-8-2017

Good Morning All,

                 James 4:3; “When you pray for things, you don’t get them because you want them for the wrong reason—for your own pleasure.”

    I hear it often.  Someone will ask why God doesn’t answer their prayers.  Why do their prayers fall on deaf ears?  “I pray and pray; yet nothing happens, what’s the use?”  “It seems like God doesn’t answer my prayers, so why pray?”  Our answer comes from our verse.  The question is “why do you pray?”

    One of the most apparent reason for this is that we tend to pray in a manner that is manipulative.  We often see God more as Santa Claus; someone we send our wish list to and then expect him to fill the bill.  We pray for stuff, cars, trucks, money, bigger homes and the like.  Sometimes we pray for others but we usually pray that God will change them.  We want them to change so we get what we want.  We try to manipulate God.  This includes the ever present “If you give me this then I’ll do that”  “That” might be attending church more often, putting more into the collection plate; it might be refraining from some unsavory activity.  Once again we are trying to manipulate God into some form of action.

    Sometimes it might be because we aren’t really praying to God.  Sometimes our prayers are to impress those around us.  Either by the content and words used or by the repeated telling others how often and hard we pray.  We are not really praying to God for his Spirit and guidance; we are praying in vain that others are impressed.  Scriptures tells us that we already have our reward when we do that. (Matt. 6:2)

    Sometimes, we pray mass produced prayers with little, if any, thought or feeling.  How often is our table prayer of “Come Lord Jesus be our guest” turn into “crumbly cheese asparagus”?  This hollow repetition is not real prayer so it is not truly heard by God. 

    True prayer comes through the Spirit.  It is the desire to communicate with God.  It expresses our desire for God’s will to be active in our lives.  We call to God for his Spirit to guide us, to comfort us, to give us peace.  We pray that God will sustain us during the devil’s attacks.  We pray for the safety of others; we pray for God’s peace to be on the people of the world.  Our prayer is not for stuff but for a contented spirit.  Our prayers are a response to God’s grace.  They are a response to God speaking to us through His Word.  Prayer is calling to God to do something wonderful in our life.  Faith is knowing it will happen and trusting that what does happen is God’s loving will for us.

Gracious Lord, help us to pray, teach us to pray.  Help us to place all our fears and worries in your loving hands.  Teach us to come to you in honest and open conversation.  Help us to see that true prayer will lead to peace and contentment in our hearts.  Be with those who are in pain or sadness at this time.  Lead them to cry to you in their time of need.  Lead them to the safety of your loving arms.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret