The Bible says a lot about prayer
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1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
o
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for
you.
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Philippians 4:6-7
o
do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God. And the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
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1 John 5:14
o
And this is the confidence that
we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
·
Colossians 4:2
o
Continue steadfastly in prayer,
being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
·
Mark 11:24
o
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
·
Romans 12:12
o
Rejoice in hope, be patient in
tribulation, be constant in prayer.
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Jeremiah 33:3
o
Call to me and I will answer
you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Why pray?
Well, the Bible tells us to pray, so there is that. We want
to be obedient, knowing that what God tells us to do is always, ultimately for
our benefit.
And, in much the same way as talking regularly to someone
can build intimacy and friendship, prayer also brings us closer to God in a
relational way.
Beyond that, God does answer prayer – many, many miracles
have happened as the result of prayer. Thus, prayer changes circumstances.
But there’s another aspect of prayer I want to focus on
today. And that’s the fact that prayer changes you.
Prayer Changes:
1) Your focus
Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything
worthy of praise, think about these things. – Philippians 4:8
We spend most of our lives focusing on
fruitless things. Either on ourselves, on our problems, or on Netflix. But when
stop and pray, we are taking the focus off of ourselves, our problems, and our
situations, and are focusing on the one thing that matter more than anything
else in the entire universe: God. We
stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the answer – the God who
loves us, died for us, and arranged away for us to spend eternity with him
forever!
Furthermore, when we spend regular time in
prayer, thanking God for all that he has done in us, to us, and through us, we
realize we’re a lot more blessed than we sometimes feel. It changes our
attitude towards life, others, and ourselves.
2) Your way of thinking
Have you ever noticed that after you start a new job, you
begin to see day-to-day things differently?
How about kids? How many of you have kids? Did you notice
that after having kids, you started to see the world very differently? You
started asking questions you didn’t think to ask before. You start realizing
how many sharp edges are around your house. You see a kid crying in the store
and a mom, overtly frantic, trying to hold it together, and you feel a level
of… I don’t know… empathy or kinship for them because you know exactly what
they are going through. Right? It’s a flip in your perspective. It’s an
adjustment to your worldview. It’s a change in how you think.
Likewise, when you start praying, you start thinking
differently. And I don’t just mean in the moment, I mean as you go about your
normal, routine, day-to-day life, you see things differently. You think about
people and situations and events differently. The more time you spend
conversing with God, the more you begin to see things from his perspective. The
more you begin to see the world the way God sees the world, the more you begin
to see the events and situations and circumstances in your life the way God
sees them. And the more you begin to see people how God sees people.
And that brings us to our last point…
1 3) Your heart
Spending time with God, in prayer, changes your heart. When
you focus on the things God wants you to focus on, and think the way God wants
you to think, you’ll find yourself caring about the things God cares about.
A quick story… (story of the druggies behind our house)
How do we know what God cares about?
·
John 3:16
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Romans 5:8
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The parable of the prodigal son
God cares about people. God’s heart towards people is that
of a father’s heart towards his beloved children. The more time we spend in
prayer, particularly praying for
people (even people that have wronged us greatly), the more tender we become.
Our heart goes from stone to flesh, to use Jeremiah’s language. We develop a
soft heart that loves people, seeing them the way the Father sees them, leading
us to treat them the way Jesus treats them. After all, we are all fallen,
equally in need of a savior.
