Ther Persistance of Prayer

Sermon 07.25.10
The Persistence of Prayer

Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background of the church office.

One minister, a Methodist, shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship.

The second minister, an Episcopalian, suggested that real prayer was properly conducted on your knees as a form of grateful humility before God.

The third minister, a Baptist, suggested that the other members of the clergy were both wrong; the only position worth its salt was to pray stretched out flat on your face, prostate before the Holy One.

By this time, the phone man , couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, “I found the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground.”

The subject of the sermon this morning is prayer, if you haven’t already guessed it, and there is no one means, or place, that is the most effective for this act of worship. I’ve prayed with children who have lost their pet gerbils, in the middle of the grocery store when I can’t find fried onion rings, and even one particular time on a roller coaster in Orlando.

Jesus begins the text by praying. This is not uncommon in Luke’s gospel; in fact there are a little less than 60 mentions of prayers or praying in this gospel. Jesus often models the behaviors that he wanted the disciples to follow, and in this case they finally have the nerve to ask him in verse 1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” I’ll bet you that some of us are still asking that same question some 2000 years later.

The response that Jesus gives them is the Lord’s prayer. In Luke, it is short, almost terse and straight to the point. He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Notice that Luke does not include “thy will be done” and deliver us from evil, nor the ending doxology. Maybe that occurred in lesson #2. The disciples could only absorb so much or any given day and what he taught them was the basics. He says, “Recognize the holiness of the Lord and pray for the realm of the kingdom on earth. Provide us with spiritual nourishment, forgive and be forgiven, and keep us from wicked and evil ways.” It couldn’t get much simpler than that. Maybe God has given us a complete package, saying that the “thees” and “thous” aren’t the most important part of prayer.

More importantly, Jesus emphasizes that you must be persistent in prayer. We can pray as long as we want because God is persistent with us. We don’t lose heart in our attempts to pray and to serve, because God doesn’t give up on us. God brandishes us with a love that is eternal, not transitory. Even if we have been praying for a situation for a long time and seen no results, that doesn’t mean that God is ignoring you. Keep praying. It isn’t over until God says it’s over.
The passage from Colossians also explores the faithfulness of God, beginning with the first two verses: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.”
Paul exhorts the Colossians to stand firm in their prayer life, having their basis in Jesus Christ. Jesus embodied the persistent love of God. Jesus exemplified and identified the God who would not let us go, the God who kept coming back for us. Our faithful life of prayer to God in Christ Jesus responses to this lasting relationship.

The Lucan gospel message also brings this to light when Jesus says to ask, seek and knock – to be unrelenting in our prayer life. We must bring our petitions to God, listen for God’s response and keep on ringing the spiritual door bell over and over again. It is Paul’s voice from Romans that we also recall in 1st Thessalonians 5:17. Pray without ceasing. Now that’s what I call persistent!
A man named William Carey found his determination in the Word of God. When asked about his accomplishments in translation of the Bible during his missionary stay in India, he said, “I am not a genius, just a plodder.” But what constant devotion to his work. In 40 years of labor, he translated all or portions of the Bible into the 34 of the languages and dialects on India.
Jesus uses the example of a man who keeps pestering his neighbor with requests until the neighbor finally relents. So too it is with God. constantly, we bring our prayers of concern and petition, our prayers of gratitude, our prayers for reconciliation of relations and our prayers of praise. In case you have never heard this, the acronym for the types of prayer is ACTS – adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication.
Ask, seek and knock and the door will be opened unto you. We are assured by Paul that God answers prayers by opening the door to us through direct communication. It has been said, in the words of modern technology, that prayer is the ultimate wireless connection, or that Jesus has unlimited incoming calls. People who are persistent in prayer keep on calling until someone answers the phone (or e-mail), whatever the case may be. We should be constant in our relationship through disciplined prayer.

Whether at home during private devotions, or when we have our time of sharing on Sunday morning, God hears our constant calls, our determined voices, our continual needs.
As you leave the sanctuary today, remember the promise of Jesus that the door will be opened by him if we seek, ask and knock. Pray faithfully, pray without ceasing, and pray with persistence. May Jesus Christ, who taught us the perfect prayer, make it so also for us. Amen