Prayer
Let Nothing Get in the Way of Prayer
Romans 8:26-39
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. July 26th, 2020
We are a praying people. We pray so much that I wonder sometimes if it is easy for us to forget how wonderful the miracle and mystery of prayer really is. Imagine, at any moment on any given day in any given place we can speak to God. We can thank God, praise God, make our requests to God, or simply rest in God. We do not need to go to special places, though we do set places aside. We do not need to go through special people, though we do set people aside. We can simply turn to God, pour out our hearts, and he listens. He’s always listening.
Jesus’ disciples once asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus’ disciples did not know how to pray. They needed to be taught. Prayer does not come naturally to us, either. It is something that we need to be taught. And, if we are being honest with ourselves, it is something that can be difficult. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the words, is there some formula? Other times we might get distracted. We might be praying one thing and our mind goes off on something else. Or we might wonder what gestures or posture we ought to be making. Is it a prayer if I don’t clasp my hands?
I had mentioned before about listening to those radio preachers before bed. Oftentimes they would end the service with an invitation to say the sinner’s prayer and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Some of those sermons were especially convicting for me, so I would say the prayer. But after the second time saying the prayer I began to have doubts. Was I saying it earnestly enough? Was praying while lying in bed the incorrect posture? Was there something deeper I was missing? So I would pray each and every time. Maybe you’ve had similar experiences with prayer. You put your hands together, you repeated the words, or you said what was on your heart, and couldn’t be too sure if your words went farther than the ceiling.
If you’ve ever wondered about prayer, or had difficulty with prayer, you can take comfort from Paul’s words this morning. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Paul himself admits we do not know how to pray as we ought. I think that’s astounding. Now, Paul doesn’t like to talk about his own spiritual life, he’d rather focus on Jesus. But we do know that Paul had a vibrant spiritual life. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians he describes a profound spiritual experience where he was caught up to heaven and God spoke to him. He speaks of his prayers on behalf of others multiple times. And he exhorts the Thessalonians to “pray unceasingly.” Paul is not inexperienced with prayer, but even he admits we do not know how to pray as we ought. So don’t think you’re expected to get it all right.
Never let anything get in the way of prayer. Prayer is our conversation with God, it is a means by which we deepen our relationship with God. If we have been adopted by God in the Spirit, if Christ has claimed us as his own, then we are called to prayer. God wants to know what’s on our hearts. He wants us to lift everything up to him, whether it be our joys or our concerns.
Don’t worry about what you should say, or what you should do. All that comes in time. I think a lot of trouble in prayer comes from thinking there are some right things to say. I wonder sometimes if the reason I get distracted in prayer is that I’m not actually lifting up the things that are on my heart. I’ve tried to say my prayers when I have a tummy ache. And let me tell you, as much as I would like to focus on the far more lofty topics I know I need to bring before God, it’s hard to keep my mind off the tummy ache before I pray to God even for that. A student praying before a test does not worry about distraction. They are quite focused. The student is focused because she or he is lifting up to God what is truly on his or her heart. Perhaps our distractions are the true concerns of our heart bubbling to the surface. Finding a way to offer them up to God can bring us back to the other things we had set ourselves to pray.
Don’t worry about the purity of your intentions, like there are more or less important things you ought to be praying for. God isn’t interested in a bunch of Eddie Haskells. God wants really what’s on your heart. God wants to deepen a relationship with you. Lift up the banal and the embarrassing. God can make something of that.
No matter what you say, the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. God will hear the real yearning of your heart, God can take our prayers and work wonders through them. Even lift up your anger, the Psalmist can get very angry and even violent. Who knows what God might do with what you lift up for him, how the Spirit might intercede, what wonders God might work, how you might become transformed.
The important thing about prayer isn’t doing it right. The important thing about prayer is simply to pray. To lift our hearts up to God, and let God work in us and through us. To grow closer to God.
We are able to pray because of the Spirit’s intercession. It is not our own work. It is a miracle. Each and every time. An astonishing miracle that we might stand before the Holy Throne and converse. The Spirit makes this possible. We can have confidence in the Spirit’s intercession, and confidence in the power of prayer. Indeed, Paul tells us, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What is getting in the way of prayer? Certainly nothing can get in the way of God’s love. But prayer is one way that God makes his love known and deepens his love with us. Pray in what ever way works for you. I like to use the Daily Office to order my prayers myself, but I also make intercessory prayer throughout the day. I’ve learned to make my requests as they come, and combine them with thanksgivings. That way I am reminded always of God’s blessings. Some may find impromptu prayer more natural than a formal or written prayer. Some may need to pray while reading Scripture. Others pray while drawing. The Spirit intercedes. Don’t let anything get in the way. Whether you are happy, pray. Sad, pray. Depressed, pray. In trouble, pray. Scared, pray. Pray in all circumstances. Offer it all to God. It is our privilege as God’s children. It is the miracle of the Spirit’s gift. Pray. Pray. Pray.