Prayer

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Prayer

At our Annual General Meeting I proposed 5 aims for our church during for the coming year. All these things were issues that had been raised by the PCC.

1. To review our patterns of worship.

2. To reach out to people in our community, especially those under 30.

3. To help Christians of all ages to grow in faith.

4. To establish a Ministry Leadership Team.

5. To review our methods of communication.

After I had talked about them, there was a general consensus that these were the right priorities for the next 12 months. But about 25 people stayed behind after the meeting to discuss them a bit further.

One of the things that came out of that discussion, was that ..."We need to ensure that all the work of our church is undergirded by prayer".

It is one of those comments that has really stuck with me over the past few months, ...and one which I have become increasing convinced that it is absolutely right.

Prayer lies at the heart of our relationship with God, and it is also the means by which we are able to work in a spiritual dimension.

What I mean by that is this. We might all be very busy, serving God in many different ways, ...but unless this work is being guided and undergirded by prayer, I don't think it will have any lasting significance.

Let me repeat that, because it is at the heart of what I want to say this morning:

Unless our work is being guided and undergirded by prayer, I don't think it will have any lasting significance.

Now that's a rather bold statement, ...and it's not one that I can 'prove', ...but what I want to do this morning is to take a whistle-stop tour of the gospels, in order to illustrate just how important prayer was to Jesus.

We are going to begin with today's gospel reading. And the first thing to notice is that:

Jesus prayed when he was alone

(Mt. 14.23 page 981)

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Jesus prayed with others in the synagogue

(Lk. 4.16 page 1031)

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Jesus prayed before major decisions

(Lk. 6.12-13 page 1033)

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Jesus prayed with the disciples

(Lk. 9.28 page 1040)

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Jesus teaches about prayer

(Lk. 18.1 page1052)

Prayer is hard work. I find it hard work. There are times when I would rather do anything else, but pray.

There are times when we seem to be getting no-where, and we want to give up.

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Jesus prayed for his disciples

(Lk. 22.31-32 page 1058)