Sermon
30th September 2018 (19th Sunday after Pentecost)
Text:
James 5:13-20 - The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective
Prayer
is an important part of all religions.
Whether
it is Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or Christianity.
In
fact even non-religious people will make comments like – you’re in my thoughts
and prayers.
They
might even ask you to say a prayer for them.
Muslims
pray 5 times a day.
Martin
Luther devoted two to three hours daily in prayer.
Sadly
today many see prayer more as a burden than as a pleasure.
Many
feel guilty about their struggles to pray.
Prayer
along with reading our Bibles has become a victim of our modern busyness.
Because
we find prayer more of a burden it means we don’t often find time to pray and
we don’t discover the joy and blessings of prayer.
Instead
of praying, people take their problems to therapists, counsellors and support
groups rather than to God.
Who
needs prayer?
What
is prayer?
Prayer
is simply communicating with God, so why is it so difficult.
Maybe
it’s because communication with other people has changed in today’s social
media driven lives;
Communication
has become shorter as we send text messages, emails, instant messaging which
has become the way we communicate.
Has
this changed the way we communicate with God?
Prayer
has become like sending God a text message. Short, instant, not much thought,
not much time or effort involved.
Why
is it that we find it so hard to pray?
Why
do we neglect this rich source of strength and power for our daily lives?
Some
of the excuses are:
It
takes effort to make time available every day to pray.
But
we seem to make time available for other things – TV, sport, hobbies.
Maybe
we’re not able to find times where it is quiet and still for just a short
while.
The
TVs on – the mobile phone is going off all the time – we have to check our
emails and facebook.
When
there’s quiet we don’t seem to be able to handle it too well because we’re not
used to it.
It
does take an effort to stop during a busy day and to spend time talking with
God.
It
takes an effort at the end of a long day to stay awake long enough to pray.
There
are times I’ve said my prayers lying in bed only to wake the next morning and
have no idea where I got up to.
We
seem to be able to pray when there is a pressing need, when there is sickness
or despair, but for the rest of the time prayer is often seen as a burden.
Even
though it’s a bit of an effort we’re more than happy to put effort into other
things – gardening, exercising, cleaning the house.
But
we say – these need to be done.
Well,
according to Jesus, James, Paul and others, prayer also needs to be done.
Maybe
we doubt the value of prayer but as Christians we know we’re supposed to pray
so we do it when others are around, like saying grace at dinner time – or we
promise to others that we’ll pray for them but don’t.
If
we truly believed in the power of prayer wouldn’t we spend as much time with
our heavenly Father in prayer as we could?
Surely,
as Christians, we believe in prayer, so why is it so difficult?
Why
don’t we pray more often?
Maybe
we’ve given up on prayer because God's answer is quite different to what we
expected.
Jesus
certainly didn’t give up on prayer when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane
to avoid his impending death – not MY will be done – but YOUR will be done.
Paul
also found the answer he sought different to what God delivered.
He
prayed 3 times for healing but God's answer wasn’t the healing that he
expected.
God’s
answer drew Paul into a deeper and closer understanding of his suffering and a
trust in God's grace to help him through the most difficult times.
And
it was that answer that would help him during his other times of suffering
including the years he spent in prison.
The
answer was different to what he was praying not because Paul lacked faith, or
that what he was asking was unreasonable, or that God wasn’t interested.
God's
answer was one of love and care for his future sufferings and not just the one
he was encountering at that time.
Maybe
as we look back on our lives we will see that our prayers have actually been
answered even though at the time we really thought God had not answered.
Sometimes
when we are at our lowest words are difficult and therefore prayer is
difficult.
But
Paul also encourages us during those times when he said:
The
Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes with groans too deep for words. And God,
who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
So
the first thing we need to do is to not feel guilty about our poor prayer life
because that’s what Satan wants from us.
With
the guilt gone from our prayer life, prayer, whatever shape it takes, becomes
time simply being in God’s presence rather than a chore or duty.
That’s
why when Jesus’ disciples wanted Jesus to teach them how to pray he didn’t give
them a list of directions but actually gave them his own prayer to pray to lead
them into a deeper time of prayer.
It
wasn’t the only prayer they should pray but one that would bring them into
prayer.
But
prayer is also not just one way traffic.
Just
as in a relationship a couple will speak with each other, so too prayer is not
only us speaking to God but it is God speaking to us.
Let
there be times where God speaks to you rather than you doing all the talking.
How
can we know what God wants for us if we never listen and are always talking?
As
St Paul says: If you aren’t able to pray, ask for the Holy Spirit to help you
in your prayers.
The
Holy Spirit will assure you that God is there for you and his love for you is
even stronger in your time of need even though you might not necessarily feel
it at that moment.
As
St Paul discovered – when I am weak then I am strong.
Our
loving Father and Saviour assure us that prayer is never wasted energy.
As
St James says: "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective".
Maybe
you feel that your prayer life is a long way from what it should be.
Maybe
you’re embarrassed to let people know about your prayer life.
Just
remember that with God it’s not about size as Jesus says – if you have faith as small as a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,'
Or
the father with the sick son who said: “Lord I believe, help me with my
unbelief!”
James
is trying to encourage us to seek opportunities to pray:
Are
any among you suffering? They should pray.
Are
any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
Are
any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them
pray over them.
The
prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up;
And
anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to
one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
The
prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
There’s
no criticism there – just encouragement.
And
so too we should not criticise ourselves because that will only make prayer an
obligation and we will lose the joy out of it.
We
all wish we could pray better, read our bibles more, have better devotional lives
with ourselves and our family.
But
let us remember that since they are our lifeline with God then it is what Satan
will attack.
So
we should almost expect that we’re going to struggle just as Jesus struggled
when Satan attacked him in the wilderness and on the cross.
But
as James said last week:
Resist
the devil and he will flee.
Come
near to God and he will come near to you.
So
let us come near to God in prayer and let the Holy Spirit guide us into a
deeper and more meaningful spiritual relationship with God.