The Value of Prayer

Mark Dunagan
11/13/11 - Sunday Morning

The Value of Prayer

In Luke 18:1 the Holy Spirit tells us exactly what Jesus will be aiming at when He gives the parable that occupies the first eight verses.  “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (18:1).   Then He proceeds to tell a parable about a widow who kept coming to a disinterested judge and eventually wins him over to provide her with legal protection against an enemy.  As I have read this story in the past I have probably at times walked away with a wrong idea about the story.  It is tempting to read the story and conclude, “Prayer takes a long, long time to work”.  Yet nothing in the story even hints at the idea that it took twenty years or even a year for the judge to hear her case.  Now there are prayers that might not be answered for a long time, yet there are many prayers that need and are granted an immediate answer. 

A Solution Now

“Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need”  (Hebrews 4:16).  The text says that God’s people have access to the throne of grace and if we draw near with confidence, we can find help—not decades after the event is over, but in time of need.   For example:  If I need help overcoming a sin, an answer years or decades later would be too late.  If my anger is out-of-control and I pray for help—I need help right now because that anger could destroy me, my current relationships and all sorts of valuable things.

James 1:5

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him”.

Allow me to make a couple of observations about this verse and tie it into the idea that the answers to many of our prayers must be quick:

• The text is not promising a high IQ to anyone who prays.  The prayer is not, “God, make me into a genius”.  Rather, the prayer is for wisdom.  In addition, if we think that one only becomes a wise person at the very end of their life, we are equally off track.  I need to be wise in my twenties, my teens, my thirties and every other decade of my life.
• This verse isn’t going to be of much use if the answer only comes decades after the prayer, for I need wisdom now in my marriage, parenting and my personal fight against temptation. 
• I believe that the prayer for wisdom if often answered very quickly because the attitude that would lead me to approach God with such a request is the first step towards becoming wise.  Once I realize that I cannot fix everything myself, that I need God and His solutions, I am already 90 percent on the path to becoming wise.  The very fact that I am on my knees and asking God for help---is one of the wisest things I could be doing.

How This Works

Here is how I have seen quick and immediate answers to prayer:

• If I am impatient and really struggling with being patient with others, as I talk to God, I will clearly remember that God has been very patient with me.  In fact, I will confess to God that He is presently putting up with far more faults on my part—than I have to deal with in others.
• If I am angry and I am wanting help to overcome that sinful anger, as I talk to God I will confess that God has far more right to be angry with me than I have to be angry with life or people.  In fact, as I am talking to God I will become ashamed of my anger when I remember all the current and past blessings that have been given me—and all undeserved.
• If I am sad or discouraged, and I am talking to God about the things which are centers of sorrow in my life.  Maybe people I love who have fallen away (Philippians 3:18), congregations that have shrunk in number, or just the way the world is going in general.  I will be reminded that all these things make God sad (Genesis 6:6; Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:30), and at a far deeper level than I ever experience.  I will also be reminded that I am sheltered.  I do not see all the pain, misery and discouraging situations in the world.  I only see a little slice, but God sees it all. 

The Right View of God

In Luke chapter 18 Jesus is not saying that God is like an uninvolved or apathetic judge, rather, the point is that how much more will a loving God respond to the requests of His people who persistently appeal to Him for help, “Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?  I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily” (Luke 18:7-8).  I know there have been times when I prayed that my attitude was more like, “God, I wish I could get your attention to what is happening over here in my part of the world, we could really need some help”.  That of course is a completely wrong view of things.  God already knows what is happening, “For your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).  In fact, God is far more concerned and interested in what is happening in our world—than we are many times.  Jesus demonstrated that this is what God is like when He looked over Jerusalem and wept over it (Luke 19:41).  Jesus saw the problems Jerusalem was facing long before anyone else.

“In Time of Need…Worry”

• “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7).
• “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice!  Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.  The Lord is near.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of the God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).

Again, if the “peace of God” only shows up decades later, then the prayer here isn’t much use at the moment.  I think we can all agree that such peace does grow and deepen with time and maturity, yet I have also found that such peace isn’t something that one has to wait for after years and years of prayer.

The Practical Side

If I find myself losing the battle with worry, anxiety and the cares of the world, and I go to God for help, here is what I have found:

• As I let God have all my worries and concerns, I start remembering how well God has taken care of me in the past (Hebrews 13:5-6).
• I start feeling rather ashamed for not trusting Him in the first place.
• I start remembering all my blessings, how well things have gone.
• I remember all the times that I worried about something in the past—and what I was spending so much energy on—never happened.  And this same thing has been repeated hundreds if not thousands of times, with the same results.
• I start seeing how silly and fruitless it is to worry.  Worrying has never solved anything in my life.  It cannot solve a single problem, “And which of you being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span?” (Matthew 6:27).

 

Prayer and Temptation

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He was in the garden with His disciples.  As He was praying earnestly, they were sleeping.  He comes to them, and rebukes them:  “Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46).  When it comes to temptation, I have found that we often pray too late.  We too often only pray after we fail, after we have given in. 

• The verse infers that prayer can serve as a great safeguard against giving into temptation.  Here is what I have learned:
• It is hard to continue to move towards sin when one is talking to God. 
• Talking to God immediately reminds me of how much He loves me, the price He paid for my deliverance, and how sin grieves Him so much.
• Prayer before I begin to yield reminds me of all the other times and I yielded and what a big disappointment the whole thing was.  That yielding in the past has only refused in guilt.
• Praying to God during this moment equally reminds me of all the other Christians in the past who faced things far harder than I have faced.  I feel rather ashamed that I am even thinking about yielding when others remained faithful in the face of torture and death, “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword” (Hebrews 11:37).  “Others experienced mocking and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment” (11:36).
• All my justifications for giving in equally evaporate when I start praying.  I can feel sorry for myself, for I have something very rare and valuable, a relationship with God!  I can’t say that I am deprived, for I am on my way to heaven.  I can’t claim that no one cares about me or loves me, for God gave His Son for me. 
• Pray helps keep me focused and it simply reminds me that giving into sin is weak and selfish—and I don’t want to be weak and selfish. 

The Question

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”  (Luke 18:8).  There are many passages in the Bible that encourage, plead, urge, command and exhort us to pray—and pray often (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17).   The bottom line is that we have access to God—a very rare thing.  God actually hears our prayers, unlike others (1 Peter 3:7).  We can have instant help with anger, lust, worry—or anything else.  In light of the fact that such help and power is available to us 24/7---God is amazed that that we often neglect this indescribable gift.  Let us pray—and pray a lot more.