The Position of Prayer

The Position of Prayer

Good Morning Friends,

Review the prayers in the Bible and you will find that they are for the most part cries for help. People in battle, prison and on crosses cried out to God. But they were not sweet prayers of praise for the most part but more a reverent fear of a Holy God. One has to wonder if it is the terror of the Lord or a love of God that drives us to our knees in The Position of Prayer.

Scripture: In the fear of the LORD [is] strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 14:26 (KJV)

I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2 (NRSV)

The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.

Psalms 145:18 (KJV)

The LORD is far from the wicked: but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Proverbs 15:29 (KJV)

Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Romans 8:26 (KJV)

Message: Every man or woman whose life has ever counted for God seems to have been a person of prayer. Jesus demonstrated the importance of prayer by His own example. His whole ministry was saturated with prayer. He prayed quietly in the dark of the early morning. He prayed in a solitary place and taught others to pray. In the Passion he prayed. In the moment of His death He prayed. He taught us to pray for our enemies. The Disciples prayed in the days before Pentecost. Paul prayed unceasingly throughout his journeys. And just over the last few days Pope Francis on his visit to the Holy Land prayed everywhere he went and gathered others to pray for peace. Friends, prayer is important to Jesus, for the Disciples, for Paul and is relevant today as Pope Francis in a pilgrimage of prayer demonstrated. Prayer is more important for us than society teaches us…maybe even for my fellow Presbyterians I worship with on Sundays. The problem may be that we do not come with the right attitude. Those who perceive God as a benevolent and gentle grandfather might treat prayer and their sin superficially. This undermines the power of prayer. Prayer is powered when in it we stay alert to the magnificence of salvation. It is the tension of a creative conversation in the reality of fear, the purpose of repentance and the hope of love. Here real prayer guards us against the tendency to turn a living faith into a lifeless religion. It turns our fear of the Lord into fearlessness in the world. It is a difficult balance this oscillation of sanctification. But here in the tension of prayer, the fear of God combines with love to become a great deterrent for sin. Friends, scripture on prayer will teach us how to pray – and most of the time is not anything more than taking time out of our day to be quiet and talk to God. But if we have a fearful reverence about it we might be blessed the more in its power. To power prayer we must be righteous. So pray the Holy Spirit instill into our lives a proper reverence for the almighty. Friends, we are not God. God is God. And that is why we need to pray.

Pray we orient ourselves in the direction towards God, looking for grace. Pray we not get what we want, but what God wants. Pray we realize, with fear and trepidation, that God always has the first word and that ours is always second. Pray we realize that prayer is not as an address but as a response. Pray out of our fear, wonder and adoration that God would dispel our doubts and help us to discover the delight of a faith in the resurrection of love. Pray we not worship halfheartedly. Pray we not live life on our own terms but rather God’s. Pray we have a reverent fear of a Holy God when we pray. Pray our prayers dramatically affect the way we live.

Blessings,

John Lawson