THE ELEMENTS OF PRAYER

THE ELEMENTS OF PRAYER
How We Ought to Pray and not Lose Heart: Remix
Luke 18:1-8

Do you ever notice, if you have young kids, they seem to wait until you get nice and comfortable in your chair and then they ask for juice or a snack? They never ask while you’re up. I usually just get kind of irritated and say, “I’m not your waiter!” or I’ll tell them to ask mommy. But I just can’t stand jumping up and serving them just because their bored and have some craving.

But then I look at them and their pouting little eyes and their persistent appeals for juice because they’re “sooo thirsty” get the best of me and I start to feel sorry for them. I usually end up putting my book down and getting them a drink. Jesus in Luke 18 tells us that prayer is kind of like that. It requires persistence.

READ Luke 18:1-8
• Prayer is vital to the Christian walk and maturity. It is the Christians Breath and sustenance. You will just as soon see a living man who does not breathe as see a Christian who does not believe in prayer.
• Prayer was a habit of Christ himself
• Prayer was paramount to Apostolic responsibilities (“But we will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word” Acts 6:4).
• Paul likened it to a “fervent labouring” or “Wrestling” in Colossians 4:12.
• Do you know that Prayer is the Christians secret weapon in our war against the Sin, Satan and the World?

So let’s briefly consider what it is that Jesus wants to teach us about prayer and then I want to suggest some sensible elements of effective prayer.

Look at verse 1, “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart…” There are two matters that stand out here in Luke’s introduction to the parable:

First, Let us not neglect the weight of the word “ought”? Our author chooses his terms judiciously. This is an ethical statement; Jesus is not making a suggestion by this parable, he’s charging us to live an appropriate lifestyle that is marked by persistent prayer.

The second outstanding matter in Luke’s introduction is the command to not “lose heart” in praying. In other words, we are not to simply give intellectual consent to the importance of prayer, but prayer must actually possess our hearts in a way that is fundamental to our relationship to God.
Let me just quickly touch on why the heart is so critical to prayer: It was affirmed by the Lord himself in the Sermon on the Mount that where your treasure is, there also will be your heart (Luke 12:34)? “It is” after-all “with the heart that one believes, resulting in righteousness (Romans 10:10). If prayer possesses your heart, you are anchored to heaven most pure; you heavens possession, its light on earth.

And here is the caveat: Should you lose heart and ignore this gift, three things are guaranteed-
1. You will become altogether ignorant of spiritual things muted to all wisdom, dull to the deeper truths of the Word of God.
2. Your Christian walk, apart from Christ’s victory imputed to you, will be otherwise defeated and powerless
3. Your thinking will become worldly (Matt 13:34).

Let us, therefore, not grow weary in prayer, “for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Gal 6:9) We ought to pray always and not lose heart… amen?
let’s turn to the Parable itself in verse 2 to 8 (tell the story extempore)

I. First, Let’s look at two similarities between this parable and reality

1. God is not the unjust judge pictured here, nor is He simply like the judge here; God is The Judge: perfect in all knowledge and judgments; absent of partiality or error. And we are like that widow.

There is a major cultural disparity here between these two subjects. The gap is probably as great a social gap as could be imagined in Jewish social life. Remember, Jesus is teaching within a patriarchal society, where men, particularly judges, are the ideal.

Just as and aside: Don’t think that implies that he in any way sanctions the abuses and excesses of that or any culture. He doesn’t just teach in a cultural vacuum, his message is shaped by his context and audience.

Couple the exploitation of an excessively male dominated society with the fact that in a patriarchal culture- a poor widow, was at the bottom rung of society. Only if this woman were a Gentile or a Samaritan could there have been a greater gulf between these two people. It’s like that in the disparity between us and God- magnified infinitely- we are limited, sinful, selfish creatures; God is immeasurable, Holy, noble, creator.

2. Another Similarity is that, persistent prayer, like this widows persistent petitioning of the unjust judge, avails much. If persistence can secure a just judgment from an unjust judge, how much more can it attain from God who is perfectly just and abundantly merciful to his children? If my daughter can get me off the chair to pour her some Kool-aid, how much more can it get God who sits enthroned over the universe to grant the desires of my heart?

II. There is more I could say about this parable, in fact I could preach it every Sunday for the next year and not exhaust the doctrines and themes that it exposes. But our time is short and I want to move to some application:

I want to suggest five common sense elements or phases of prayer. These elements are essential to effective prayer and are modeled to us in various modes by righteous men and women throughout scripture.

1. Pray must begin with or at some point contain Worship. Someone once said, “True prayer is an exercise in divine worship” (Michael Patrick).
• Worship means that we contemplate and adore God and the perfection of His attributes. “Be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10).
• Worship reminds us to whom it is we speak.
• It warms the heart and tunes it giving liberty to our requests and intercessions.
Worship involves adoration of God as well as exaltation: Listen to how the Psalmist adores God: “Because Your loving kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.” (Psalm 63)

2. The second crucial element of prayer is Repentance: John Owen wrote, “He that has small thoughts of sin never has large thoughts of God.” For true repentance to occur, there must be two things:
First, forgiveness. “Blessed are the merciful,” said Jesus, “for they too will obtain mercy.” (Mat 5:7) Later he added, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Mat 6:14).

CS Lewis recommends this approach, when you pray and seek to forgive someone who has wronged you, try to remember a time when you may have committed a similar sin or wrongdoing.

There is nothing more humbling then recognizing that the sliver in my brother’s eye may actually be a reflection of the log in my own. The faults I see in others that simply have no patience or compassion for are often faults that I struggle with myself.

Second, soul-searching confession in which we invite the Holy Spirit to search the deepest places of our hearts and bring to mind sins that need to be confessed so that we can keep a short account with God.

Remember David’s confession?
“For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5).

“Repent therefore… that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9).

3. The Third important element of prayer is Intercession; that’s Praying for others. On their behalf make the same requests that you made for yourself.

Here is an order for remembering people to pray for:
1. Begin with your family: spouse, children, parents, other family
2. Pray for the helpless, for the lost, for the single moms in this community and their children.
3. Pray for your neighbours and your friends
4. Pray for your pastor and the leaders of the Church
5. for your teachers and for your students
6. Pray for world leaders.

4. The fourth element is Supplication: Another word for supplication is requests. It is the selfish side of prayer. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6).

As Spurgeon said, “Every promise of scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request, ‘Do as thou hast said.’”
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” A heart that finds its delight in the Lord can never intentionally ask for something that is against God’s will.

Three characteristics in your requests: Simple, sincere, scriptural

5. The final element of prayer is Thanksgiving: Recite to God a catalogue of his blessings toward you. “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Col 4:2).
1. Thank him for things He already done: salvation, healings, restored relationships, jobs, finances, etc.
2. Thank him for what he is doing: providing your daily needs, giving you directions, hearing your prayers.
3. Thank him for what He will do in advance, even if it is not what you ask.