Praying with attitude

It has been requested that sermon notes from Sunday mornings at Exeter Temple be put on line so I thought the best was to return to posting them on my blog. So after a couple of months away, here I am back in blogland.

Praying with attitude:  Boldness
Luke 11:5-8

1. Bold because God has chosen to work through prayerful people


The story has three people; a person in need, his friend and the friend’s neighbour that has the power to help. Jesus intends us to see the friend’s neighbour as representing God. The resources are only made available through the friend making a deliberate request for them to be released.

If God is sovereign won’t he do what he wants anyway? Is there any point in bothering God with requests or seeking his help?
God has chosen to operate, to act in the world through human beings. Psalm 8:6 “You made him (man) ruler over the works of your hands you put everything under his feet.”

God has not given away ownership of the earth. (Ps24:1) but he did assign the responsibility of governing the world to humans. This was an awesome responsibility which mankind gave away to Satan. In Garden of Eden, human beings submitted to his lies and ended up giving their rightful position to God’s enemy. When Jesus was tempted, Satan could point at the world and say, “I will give you this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me and I give it to whom I wish.” (Luke 4:6)

Rather than abandon this way of working, God put in place a redemption plan that included human beings.

Pastor Dutch Sheets says, “So complete and final was God’s decision to do things on earth through human beings that it cost God the incarnation. I can’t think of a more staggering truth. Certainly nothing could give weightier proof of the finality of this “through humans “decision God made. Without question, humans were forever to be God’s link to authority and activity on the earth. Here we have the reason for the necessity of prayer. God chose from the time of creation to work on the earth through humans, not independently of them. Though God is sovereign and all powerful, Scripture clearly tells us that he has limited himself concerning the affairs of earth to working though human beings.”  (Intercessory Prayer How God can use your prayers to move heaven and earth)

God used human prophets to speak through; judges and kings to rule through and God saved the world through becoming a human Messiah.
In Jesus story, action resulted through the friend of the needy person asking his neighbour to move and respond.

St Augustine "Without God, we cannot; but without us, God will not."

John Wesley “God does nothing on earth save in answer to believing prayer,”

James 4:2 “You do not have because you do not ask.”

In His sovereignty God has voluntarily linked Himself to human cooperation. He has bound Himself to the prayers of His children. He merges His working with man’s praying.

2. We come with boldness because we know he can help

Approaching God for help is an act of faith in his ability to meet need.
In the story the friend was unprepared for his late arriving guest who is hungry after a long and exhausting journey. He has no bread himself but he knows where there is some.

Our problem is often that we are not always that convinced God has what we need or that Jesus who reveals him has anything to say to practical problems.
Dallas Willard in his book the Great Omission says, “The idea that Jesus is master of fields such as algebra, economics, business administration or French literature imply does not cross our minds …. In our culture and among Christians as well Jesus Christ is automatically disassociated from brilliance or intellectual capacity. Once you stop to think about it, how could Jesus be what Christians take him to be in other respects and not be the best informed and most intelligent person of all, the smartest person that ever lived. In contrast the early Christians who took the power of God’s life in Christ to all quarters of the earth thought of Jesus as one in “whom are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They thought of him as master of every domain of life.”

3. We can be bold because God is more willing to give than a reluctant neighbour

In the story the friend had to overcome the neighbour’s unwillingness. In the Middle East at that time doors remained wide in the day and anyone and everyone came in and out but if the door was shut it was a definite sign that the householder did not want to be disturbed.

But the friend pushes past politeness and custom, asks anyway and got what he needed.
We must not just assume that Jesus is comparing God to a sleepy, selfish and angry neighbour. Rather he is contrasts the two. If a reluctant neighbour can on the basis of boldness and friendship be persuaded to meet the needs of a friend, how much more will God in heaven want to meet the needs of his children?

3. Being bold in prayer fulfills our calling to serve suffering humanity

Prayer could end up being all about me but this parable shows that it is also about others. The man makes a request on behalf of another who was not in a position to ask for himself. The traveller could not make his own request of the neighbour who had bread because he did not possess the relationship with the neighbour that his friend did.

Intercessory prayer is partly approaching God on behalf of another who is not in the position to approach God that I am in.

The man in the parable says, “I have nothing to set before him." Likewise, in and of ourselves, we have no resources, no answers, no solutions, no power to bring about meaningful change in peoples’ lives. But in the story the resources are released from the neighbour because the travellers friend had the courage and persistence to ask.

In the culture of Jesus’ day the rules of hospitality did not just mean giving the odd meal to a visitor. To come under someone’s roof for a meal was also to come in under their protection. If an enemy sought fight with his guests, the host was obliged stand between them.

When Jesus deliberately got between Satan and humanity the result was a cross. The result of that meeting was not triumph for Satan, but for Christ

In intercessory prayer the Christian enters the battleground between two opposing forces, stands in between, to protect the weak, stand against the evil one and to help our brothers and sisters to fight.

“Intercession is by nature, where an individual positions themselves between two parties – one with a need and one with the answer – and seeks to bring the two parties together.” (Tom Elliff)

There are the elements of provision and protection involved in praying for other and they both fit perfectly with the focus of the Salvation Army. As soldiers we are called to fight, to defend, to stand in the gap. But it is also said of us, “Where there is a need there is the Salvation Army”

This often means coming out of the prayer room to go and cook a meal for the hungry, put an arm around someone who has been bereaved and giving shelter to the homeless but we are also meeting need and taking part in the fight when we pray for others. We are never more Salvation Army than when we are praying for others.

"The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The great people of earth are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray." - S. D. Gordon


To think about:

1. Whilst prayer is more than petition, it does include it. How comfortable are you asking God for things for yourself?

2. What happens when we don’t pray?

3. Why is it important to pray for others?

4. What stops you praying?

God bless
Carol