By Dr. Larry Harper

To what type of God do we pray?  Is he one who plays games with us, fooling us with false intentions?  Is he the type that will place hidden strings on his answers to manipulate us later?  Has he chosen to be so far removed from our everyday lives that he cannot relate to our need?  Is he even interested?  Does he listen?

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to the “Father”, “the Heavenly Father”, or “the Father who is in heaven” no less than fifteen times.  He is encouraging His followers to live under the will of the Father gladly and assured they are his children.

He reminds us how nature works, how the birds of the air…do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  (Mt. 6:26,32). 

God values us.  Jesus teaches us that God is our heavenly Father, a concept that we can count on, and that we are in the order of his love – the fatherhood of God.

Jesus also encourages us with promise that we will receive if we “ask, seek, and knock” (Mt. 7:7-8). This is a familiar phrase but look carefully.  This type of praying is more about the pursuit of God than about getting an answer.

In our asking of God, we are pursuing His will, believing this is a means for the child of God to know it.  When we pray, we “knock” to be invited in.  What has been perceived as being closed to us, we want to experience.  When we pray, we have an open path to greater opportunities within the will of God.  Therefore, we may approach life with the confidence our loving Father will supply (Matthew 6:31-32).

• Praying is a desire to experience God in ways not yet understood.
• Prayers are to be offered with eyes wide open, so to speak, where we are sensitive enough to recognize and understand when the answer comes.
• Prayer is a life-long response to enjoying the fatherhood of God because we are assured of answers based upon his love.

Give yourself over to praying – pursuing and experiencing the fatherhood of God as you have never known before.  This will steady every step of faith’s journey.  There will be turns and adjustments all along the way, but a child of God is always heard and assured of an answer from the Father according to his wisdom and love.  Father-like giving is the result of child-like living.  Therefore, honor the Father with this type of continuing trust, and as you do, you will discover prayer is a life-long enjoyment of the fatherhood of God.

A little boy was misbehaving in worship.  He just wouldn’t sit still and kept mumbling, disturbing others around his family.  The father reached the point of having all he could take.  Yanking him up out of the pew, placing him in his arms, he moved up the aisle toward the exit.  Sensing he was a bit in trouble, the young lad shouted back at the congregation as they exited the doors, “You all pray for me, please!”

We all call out for prayers.  We ask our family and friends to “pray for us.”  This is a great privilege we have as children of God and as members of the family of God.  We call out to God for his intervention in all sorts of situations, anticipating and trusting his touch.

On Sunday, April 29, I called out to the congregation to pray.  My request is not out of fear or frustration but out of a sense of God’s leadership and an overwhelming feeling we need his touch.  I am calling you to intense and committed prayer for the life and future of our church.

The kind of prayer I’m talking about is begging God’s intervention on all levels of our congregational life together; like, outreach, hunger for the Word, encouraging attitudes rather than a critical ones, financial support through offerings, children’s and youth workers and teachers, strategic missions planning, facilities issues, leadership development, coordination and communication improvements, and on I could go.  We need his direction.  We need his wisdom.  We can no longer live as a church as “business as usual” mentality.  There has to be a breath of renewal among us. I invite you to join me in asking his Spirit to invade us, penetrating each one of us to grow in our faith and commitment to Jesus and his calling.

There is so much to be done in so many areas, and we will not accomplish what the Lord has in store for us unless we pray, pray earnestly, and pray now!  I am asking you to prayerfully build one another up, evaluate if what we are doing is for the Lord, and ask him to show you where you need to grow. Nothing of value occurs in church ministry without humble prayer. Our Christian witness is only as effective as our humility before him in prayer.

So, “You all pray, please!” and do not stop.  Pray like you have never prayed before.  Every Monday before you take lunch, would you bow before the Lord and pray for your church, its leaders, and its membership?  He will hear and intervene for his glory.