Sermon - Prayer - Littleby Baptist Church - January 5, 2020

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it has been 20 years since everyone thought the power was going to go out? We expect the lights to turn on when we flip the switch, but there was some concern that when the computers rolled the year over to 2,000 that things would not work like we expected.

There are a lot of things in this world that we have concerns or doubts about. Are they going to work as expected, will it last through the warranty period, is it worth the investment? Now, when we approached our Lord we should have complete confidence that He hears us. Things on this side of eternity may or may not be trusted, but we should have complete faith in our Lord Jesus.

Hebrews 4:14-16

“¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”

Our High Priest, Our Lord Jesus has walked this earth and was tempted as we are tempted. He faced what we face. He understands exactly what we are going through. He saw sickness, He felt loss, He laughed, and He cried… We have a Lord who can relate with us. You might be able to say that He has walked in our shoes. As His followers we need to ‘hold fast to our confession’, we need to hold onto our profession of faith in Him. If we have declared that Jesus Christ is our Lord, we need to hold on to that no matter what. We need to follow Him regardless of what is in front of us.

As it said in verse 16, we are to approach His throne of grace with Boldness. We are to come to Him with a confidence that can only be found in us knowing that He is our Lord, that He is the Creator of all things, and that He hears us. We are to approach our Lord knowing that He is there for us.  

When we pray to our Lord Jesus, we are to have faith that He hears our every word, He knows our hearts, and that He will be with us in our time of need.

1 Timothy 2:1-2

“2 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, ² for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

Here Paul writes to Timothy urging petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings to be made for everyone. Paul’s emphasis here is that prayer needs to be a priority for every group of believers. Prayer is something that should be a focal point of our faith, our meetings, and our lives.

We are not to be bashful when we have those personal petitions tugging at our heart. We need to share them with our Lord. A Lord who has walked this earth, who has been tempted, who truly understands us. He knows we cannot always find the words for what our heart is crying out for, but He hears it and understands it. He knows when we are hurting, He knows when we are confused, angry, lost, or scared. He knows that all we can do is cry out to Him. He wants us to approach Him with every petition we have. We may think it is trivial or maybe even impossible. We may feel guilty for feeling that what is bothering us should even be prayed over, but here is the thing to remember. Your Lord Jesus wants to hear it. He wants you to bring each and every petition to Him. He wants you to hold absolutely nothing back.

Approach His throne of grace with boldness with each and every petition that is on your heart.

Paul is also urging us to intercede for others. These prayers should start with salvation for those who have yet to repent of their sins. But it should never stop there.

Our voices should join with others as they pray. Our voices should be heard when others are not even sure how to pray. We need to call out to our Lord for the needs of others. We are not to be bashful; we are to be bold as we intercede for others. When we know someone is hurting, we need to be praying for them. When we know someone is sick, we need to continually lift them up. Whatever it is, we need to be interceding for others in our prayers.  

Luke 22:31-32

“³¹ “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.””

Simon Peter did not even know he needed it, but Jesus did. Jesus interceded for Peter. He prayed that Peter would have the faith he needed when the time came, Jesus prayed that after he walked through the trial before him that he would be able to use his experience to strengthen others.

Jesus the King of Kings interceded for others, we need to follow His footsteps and intercede for others.

We need to make sure that we are praying for the needs of those around us. We may not know the specifics of the needs, but we must intercede for them. We may not know how to pray for the challenge before them, but that should not stop us from lifting them up.

Romans 8:26-27

“²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

We may not know what is needed exactly, but the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit knows more than we can ever know. We need to faithfully call out, interceding for those who are on our heart and the Holy Spirit who knows every detail better than we ever could, who knows the will of God, will intercede on our behalf.

When we pray for what is on our hearts, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. When we intercede for others, the Holy Spirit takes our prayers and intercedes in a way we never can. He takes our faith, our perseverance, our boldness, and helps us.

Romans 8:34

“³⁴ Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”

Our Lord Jesus who sits at the right hand of God intercedes for us.

When we bring forth petitions to our Lord, when we intercede for others… the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus both intercede for us.

When we approach the throne of Grace in boldness, when we step out in faith, when we lift our needs and the needs of others to our God, we have the ultimate dream team ready to take the ball and run with it.

This is beyond humbling. If you think about it, without the intercession of our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our words are just that… words. They have absolutely no power. Without the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit our words fall flat.

When we are faithful in our petitions, prayers, and intercessions as we boldly approach the throne of grace in faith, it is simply awesome to know that Jesus is interceding for us. It is beyond amazing that the Holy Spirit is taking our words, thoughts, and groanings and is interceding according to the will of the Father.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

“pray constantly”

If Scripture tells us that we need to pray constantly, that should reinforce the fact that God wants to hear from us. There should be no doubt that our Lord wants to hear our prayers, there is no reason to think that our struggles are too small for Him or that He is getting tired of hearing that same old prayer over and over.

If we are to pray constantly, if we are to approach the throne of grace with boldness, if we are to make petitions, prayers, and intersession a priority, if our Savior and the Holy Spirit are there to intercede on our behalf, shouldn’t we make prayer a priority?

Absolutely! Prayer needs to be a priority in each of our lives.

Proverbs 15:8

“The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

God takes delight in our prayers. It does not matter if they are long and thought out. They can be short and sweet, filled with praise, crying in pain, of even filled with lack of understanding. Your God wants to hear your prayers.

For a while we started writing prayer requests on the white board between Sunday School and the Worship Service. I loved that we were sharing prayer needs, but there was a fear that someone would write someone else’s prayer need down that they were not ready to make public.

To continue to keep prayer in front of us, we will be putting a board up in the back with cards, pens, and push pins. Please post any praise or prayer needs on the board. They do not need to be long or even specific. You can simply write your name on it. We do not need the details, God knows them. I encourage everyone to use the board to share your prayer needs and to pray over the needs listed.

As a church, we need to approach the throne of Grace with boldness sharing our burdens with each other and interceding where we can.

Remember James tells us that, ‘The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.’ NASB

Pray Constantly and Pray Boldly.

God Bless,

Robert