Lesson #34
PRAYER

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Reading: Psalm107

To be able to pray to God in heaven is a wonderful thing.It is a privilege that He has given to every one who is humble and who recognisesthat God has made everything in the world. Prayer may seem to be a difficultmatter, because there is such a great gulf between the Creator in heavenand His creation on the earth. Yet God has always made it plain that Heis willing to be approached, and for men and women to talk to Him if theyhave the right spirit and if they are ready to accept His word.

"Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool - but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word" (Isaiah 66: 1, 2)

So we have the promise that God will respond if we cometo him in true humility.

We may think that it is not easy to talk directly to God.Indeed, in Old Testament times people were often very frightened when theythought they were in the presence of the Almighty. For example, when thepeople of Israel came out of Egypt, the glory of God came down on MountSinai and everyone, including Moses, was terrified. When God spoke the peoplefell back and stood a long way off. (Read Exodus 19: 17ñ20 and 20:18ñ21.) God was drawing near to His chosen nation, but such was Hissplendour and power they felt they could not come into His holy presence.If we were there, we would probably have felt the same. They were so afraidthat they asked Moses to be their mediator (or go-between) with God. Andso that became the way that God communicated with Israel - through someoneelse.

When the Tabernacle was built as a place of worship inthe wilderness the glory of God shone over the "ark of the covenant"in the Most Holy Place. No-one could go into this "presence of God"except the High Priest on one day each year, on the Day of Atonement. Onthat day he confessed before God all the sins of the nation of Israel, andfor many generations this was the pattern for the Jewish people. They hadto approach God by the way He appointed. (It also pointed forward to thework of Jesus as a mediator for his disciples. When he went to heavenhe became a "faithful High Priest" for all those followers,whether Jews or not, who have been baptized "into Christ".We will come back to this later in this lesson.)

Can ordinary people talk to God?

Was there no other way to come to God except through aJewish priest or by offering sacrifices?

What about ï people who lived before there was a nationof Israel?
- people who were not Jews?
- people who simply wanted to ask God for help?
- the Jews later on, when they lived in foreign lands?

Could they not speak to God directly? We know from readingour Bibles and noting the many, many examples of prayer to God in heaventhat God always listens to the prayers of people.

For instance, we read in Genesis 24 about the servant ofAbraham, who prayed for success on his journey to find a godly wife forIsaac, Abraham's son. We can observe how he thanked God when his prayerswere answered. We can read in Job 42 how Job prayed for his friends afterGod had healed him from his awful sickness. Hannah, the mother of Samuel,prayed to God because she was childless (1 Samuel 1, 2), while Daniel, acaptive in Babylon, "his windows being open in his chamber towardJerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gavethanks before his God, as he did aforetime" (Daniel 6: 10)

Again, we have King Solomonís request that God willhear the prayer of strangers:

"Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee" (1 Kings 8: 41-43)

What about all those people who call on God when they arein trouble? Will he hear them, even if sometimes they have forgotten Him?The answer is yes, if they are sincere, humble, repentant, believethe gospel and have been baptised.

Look at the examples given in Psalm 107:

- the hungry and thirsty are fed (verse 5, 6);
- those who rebel against God, but then repent are forgiven (verse 13);
- God hears those who "draw near to the gates of death"(verse 18);
- God hears those who are in danger of being shipwrecked (verse 28).

The teaching is summarised in verse 6:

"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of all their distresses."

 

How shall we talk to God?

In the New Testament, in the ministry of Jesus, the Lordtold us about the publican ("publicans" and "sinners"were despised by many Jews) who bowed his head and smote on his breast andprayed: "God, be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18: 13).Jesus said that such a man would be heard by God because he humbled himself(unlike the Pharisees, who were very proud of their own efforts at livinggood lives).

Therefore we can see that God has always provided a wayfor sincere people, whoever they are and wherever they live, to approachHim in prayer. It is just the same today, and we can learn many lessonsfrom these Bible examples. The man or woman who is seeking God and is studyingHis Word will certainly feel the need to pray. God is concerned forall His creatures and He will hear every sincere prayer. A person seekingGod will wish to offer praise and reverent worship; to givethanks for all the blessings of life and especially for theWord of God, the Bible. When he learns about sin he will want toconfess his own sins to God, and God will hear him.

(But there is one thing to note: God will only forgivesins in the Way He has appointed, that is, through the sacrifice of theLord Jesus Christ, and this requires the believer to be baptized first.)

The Roman centurion Cornelius gave a good example of acceptableprayer. We read that he was:

"a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway" (Acts 10: 1)

Cornelius' prayers were heard and God sent the apostlePeter to complete his instruction and then to baptize him in the name ofthe Lord.

Possibly the most important prayer for a man or woman learningabout God is found in the book of Psalms:

"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119: 18)

We should all pray that God will bless our reading andstudy of His Word.

Will God answer?

Whatever our need, we should bring it to God in prayer.

- But will He always answer?
- Does He always care?
- Can He always do what is needed?

These are reasonable questions, and there are clear Bibleanswers. Prayer is not an opportunity for us to put all our wantsto God, so that He can give us everything we would like to have. Prayeris part of our worship, and it gives us the chance to think things throughin the presence of a God who loves us and wants what is best for us. Theapostle Paul says:

"Be careful for nothing (meaning do not be over-anxious) but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4: 6)

We are to pray in faith, but we should pray in accordancewith God's will: "Thy will be done." This means readingthe Bible to find out God's will and purpose, and not praying for thingswe are told we cannot have. Nor must we forget that God often answers prayerby requiring us to wait, sometimes for a long time. Abraham prayed, buthad to wait many years for the son God had promised him. At other timesGod answers by not giving us what we ask; for He knows best, better thanwe do, what is good for us.

But He never stops caring and loving. Always, "Hisears are open unto their cry" (Psalm 34: 15)

Learning to pray

We learn to pray in the same way we learn to talk - byfirst learning from others, and then trying to do the same thing ourselves.So we have to go to the Bible for examples. The Bible is full of prayers,like the book of Psalms where there are 150 different ones to learn from,or the prayers of Jesus and his followers.

If we read the Scriptures daily we shall develop a mindwhich is pleasing to God. It will shape the way we think and therefore theway we talk to God. We can also influence others by our prayerful attitude,such as giving thanks to God before meals with the family, or kneeling atthe bedside before we go to sleep.

We can pray at any time, as often as we wish, whether weare at home or travelling or at work. Jesus liked to go out alone, earlyin the morning, to somewhere quiet. But we can also pray in the middle ofan emergency, just as we can thank God for things that are going well andfor all our blessings. Many people find it helpful to have regular timesfor personal prayer, often in the morning or evening. But we should neverneglect any opportunity to speak to the Lord.

The prayers of the baptized believer

We mentioned earlier in this lesson that there is somethingspecial about the prayers of those who have been baptized into Christ. Justas the High Priest was a mediator for the Israelites, so Jesus Christ isa mediator for his true disciples. This special relationship with God throughHis Son is something for you to look forward to with joy if, in the mercyof God, you are baptized. It will mean that when you confess your sins toGod in the name of Jesus He will forgive your sins - that is, Hewill blot them out for ever.

Jesus Christ is the mediator for baptizedbelievers

The sins of the people of Israel were not taken away whenthey offered animal sacrifices, because the animals did not have a conscienceabout sin and could not offer their own blood. As it is written in Hebrews10: 4; "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goatsshould take away sins." But Jesus was the perfect sacrificebecause he offered his sinless life (Hebrews 9: 12). So those who arebaptized into Jesus have "a great high priest, that is passed intothe heavens, Jesus the Son of God" - who "was in all pointstempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4: 14, 15)

Jesus Christ is the high priest for baptizedbelievers

True Christian baptism had the effect of washing away oursins (Acts 22: 16) and once we have been baptized we can then cometo God through Jesus Christ, in the sure knowledge that "if we confessour sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanseus from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1: 9). Then we shall be ableto use the prayer which the Lord Jesus taught his disciples.

"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil" (Luke 11: 2-4)

That will be a wonderful prayer to offer; for, "Blessedis he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Psalm32: 11)

Summary

1. We must approach God in the way He has commanded.

2. God will hear the prayers of all who are humble and sincere.

3. We should offer praise and thanks, confess our sins and ask for God's guidance and blessing.

4. We must learn to pray for the right things in the right way.

5. Prayer is a great privilege and blessing; we must pray often.

6. After we are baptized we may pray through the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. God will then be our Father as well as our God.

Chapters to read: Acts 10;Psalms 51, 102; Luke 18: 1-14

A good verse to memorise: Philippians4: 6

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."