Core Conviction 6 | Praying Constantly

To read previous core convictions, check out the links below:

CORE CONVICTION 1 | Jesus Treasuring
CORE CONVICTION 2 | His-Story Honoring
CORE CONVICTION 3 | Disciple Making
CORE CONVICTION 4 | People Loving
CORE CONVICTION 5 | Diversity Celebrating

If we are a local church in Worcester who treasures Jesus, honors His story, obeys Him in making disciples, loves our neighbors generously and sacrificially, and seeks to reach every area and ethnicity of our city, then we will need to enjoy prayer. Not only that, we will need to be enjoying the conversation with our God on a constant basis.

Let's be honest. Prayer is humbling. It's acknowledging that there is Someone there you can't see, who could give you everything need, but who also has the freedom and the wisdom to answer differently than you want because He knows better. 

At the same time, this One who knows us so well is also the loving Father Jesus invites us to enjoy prayer with. He is the only One who can bring a Kingdom of complete love, joy, peace, goodness, and kindness into our neighborhoods and work places. And through Jesus, He is the One who gives us access to begin to experience glimpses of His Kingdom now. That's why He taught the disciples to pray this way:

“Father, may Your name be kept holy. May Your Kingdom come soon. Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation ... I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:2-4, 9-13).

(I also recently preached on this passage. The title of the sermon was "Praying Shamelessly and Persistently.")

Am I shamelessly and persistently praying His kingdom come in the lives of those in my city? Am I looking for the One who is the Author and Finisher of true faith? Am I asking for the Bread of Life – the only One who can satisfy my deepest need? To be honest, not often enough.

Life is too often like being out in the middle of the night hungry. We’re enslaved to the desires of ourselves and those around us, and we can often become afraid of losing everything even when we truly never own anything. In those moments of needed helplessness, God reminds us that sometimes all anyone has left is a prayer. 
But what happens when we begin to call out to God regularly? What happens when we keep knocking on His door? We need a God who cares regardless of who we are and what we’ve done. What happens when we begin to trust the possibility that He is full of grace for us? And what happens when He surprises us and answers us in our deepest need? What's next? 

We go to Him again. And again. We keep persisting and praying. And when we do, we come to the great truth about communicating with God: There is no special time for prayer. Nothing is too small, too late, or too needy. We need God in everything. And He is ready and waiting. He is the Author of life everlasting. He gives what allows us not to thirst after empty things anymore. And guess what? His available hours are infinite and He has no limitations on what we discuss with Him. So, we can talk to Him about our broken relationships. We can talk to Him about our stealing, lust, and gossip. We can talk to Him about our crazy, selfish kids. We can talk to Him about our drunkenness and drug use. We can talk to Him about our self-righteousness. He already knows. But praying helps us begin to trust Him with our lives more than we trust ourselves.

Wondering how you can begin to talk to God honestly and openly about your life? Go to the middle of a Bible, look for the Psalms, and begin praying them. Pray God’s words back to Him and see what He does with your heart. Take Psalm 27 for example. Listen to how David, the man after God’s own heart, talks to his heavenly Father, beginning in verse 7:

"Hear me as I pray, O LORD. Be merciful and answer me!My heart has heard You say, “Come and talk with Me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.” Do not turn Your back on me. Do not reject Your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close. Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the right path…" (Psalm 27:7-11)

How can someone talk so shamelessly and persistently with the God of the universe? If we go back to verse 4 of this Psalm, David describes his relationship with God in this way:

"The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life."

David knows where his true home is. And David knows He can say things like, “Hear me. Do not turn Your back on me. Don’t abandon me. Teach me. Lead me.” He is appealing to the fatherly character of God and the promises He has made to His children. How awesome is it that God wants us to pray like this regularly? Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, says, 

“A praying life doesn't take no for an answer. The psalmist was in God's face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty.”

David was persistently feisty in His prayers because he knew he was a child who needed to be in His Father’s house. And Emmaus City needs to be a community of people who come constantly to our Father's house, resting in our identity as His children, so we can share His love and His gospel with the people we come into contact with. 

And when we have begun to truly love our neighbors – celebrating and suffering with them – we will know the Father's house we need to return to again so we can pray that our neigbors and friends may see that Jesus is with them, too, and that by His Spirit, they can begin to trust Him, too.

CORE CONVICTION 6 | Praying Constantly
A Church that Humbly Prays Together and Shamelessly and Persistently Asks God to Do Things Only He Can Do

Only God can save people by the good news of Jesus and keep people hungry for His righteousness. Only God can bring about repentance and faith and change regularly. Only God can begin to change the dynamics of a city. So we're going to ask Him to again and again. We're going to commit ourselves to praying for Jesus to be shared in word and deed in our city and for many to come to know Him. And we're going to pray that we become the answer to such prayers. We will pray that He will pour out His Spirit and grace on us so that we will be faithful to becoming more like Jesus together.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26).

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you..." (Ephesians 1:16-18).

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding" (Colossians 1:9).

"...pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests...Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel...Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should" (Ephesians 6:18-20).

"...we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thessalonians 1:11-12).

"...pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored..." (II Thessalonians 3:1).

"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ" (Philemon 1:6).

"...All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray" (Acts 21:5).

Check back next week for the finale – CORE CONVICTION 7 | WORSHIP EMBODYING
 
– Sully

Curiosity piqued? Something inside you being stirred? Go ahead and connect.