What Does The Bible Say About Prayer?
Video Timeline
WELCOME
0:00 - Welcome with Matt & Dan
TALK with Sherlon Atkins
06:23 - What does the Bible say about Prayer?
07:28 - Does God Hear The Prayers Of Sinners?
11:12 - What Does The Bible Say About Relationship?
13:20 - What Does Jesus Say About Prayer?
18:45 - What Does The Bible Say About Guidance?
PRAYER
22:24 - Prayer For Ukraine
WORSHIP
24:58 - O God Be Our Guide with Lyrics
CONVERSATION STREET with Matt & Dan
28:16 - Conversation Street
CLOSING WORSHIP
1:00:04 - I Will Exalt with lyrics
Podcast:
What does the Bible say about Prayer?
— Sherlon Atkins
Hi, I'm Sherlon and today I want to talk about a subject I'm really passionate about. I hope by the end of this talk that you'll get excited about prayer, and that you'll start to pray more.
Now growing up I was surrounded by prayer. My Mum would pray about anything and everything. Coming from a West-Indian background that was totally natural because prayer and church were like the fabric of life. Going to university, my prayer life took off. It went ballistic. I would go to early morning prayer meetings, I'd go to late night prayer meetings, I'd go to all night prayer meetings. That term, "going on a night out", for me, wasn't just about going to clubs. So I got really excited about prayer.
Now today I want to look at a few questions. First, I want to look at,
Does God Hear The Prayers Of Sinners?
When I say "sinners", I mean people who are not yet Christians. Now I'm a religious studies teacher in secondary school, and sometimes my students will ask when we're talking about prayer, "Sir, if I ask God for a new laptop, or a new iPhone, or a new Playstation, or if I ask God if I was going to win the lottery, would God answer my prayers?" I say to them that God is not Santa Claus. God is not a slot machine. He doesn't give away freebies. There is more to prayer than just asking. God is more interested in relationship with us than He is in just giving us what we ask for.
I've got two amazing daughters. Evie's six and Hope's four. During halftime, we were in Calderstones Park and it was freezing. But my daughters wanted ice cream. So I thought to myself, you know what, I'll buy them the ice cream. They asked. Prayer is asking. They asked, so I bought them the ice cream and I bought one for myself as well. Why'd I do that? Well, I did that because they're my children. They asked. I love them. I have relationship with them.
Okay, now, the thing is, if they just wanted ice cream or if they just asked me for things all the time, and never wanted to spend any time with me at all, that wouldn't be a very healthy relationship as a parent. But God does want to answer our prayers. God does care about the prayers of people who are not Christians, people who may be seen as sinners.
In the Bible, it says that,
“While we were still sinners (while we were not yet Christians) Christ died us. ”
Christ died for the ungodly, for sinners. Now if Jesus Christ died for your sins and for my sins then he's more than willing to answer your prayers and my prayers.
There's a story in the book of Matthew, where a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus. Now the Canaanites were outcast. They were seen as unclean. They were like Gentiles. When Jesus came initially, he came to the people who were Jewish. He didn't come to the Gentiles, to the Canaanites. And she starts to pray to God, she has a conversation. You know prayer is conversation. Her son is sick. It says in the Bible, he was demon possessed. She asks God to heal Him. God says I haven't come to the Canaanites (Gentiles), I've only come for the Jews. And she pleads, she prays. She says that, even dogs eat the crumbs off the table. You know, even the people who aren't Jews are believing what you are saying. God, Jesus hears her prayer.
God hears the prayers of sinners because we are all made with His DNA. Every human being on this planet has the DNA of God inside of them, whether they recognise that or not. But God is interested in more than just answering everything we ask for. God is interested in relationship.
What Does the Bible Say About Relationship?
What does it say about communication? What does it say about friendship? In the Old Testament, there's a guy called Abram, or Abraham. The other day I was teaching, and one of my students was doing an exam question. The question said, Why is Abraham significant to Judaism and Christianity? This student wrote down, "because he was the first one who spoke with God. And then God made a promise with him. And that word promise is called covenant." So prayer is a relationship. God spoke with not to Abraham. Prayer isn't a dictatorship. It's a relationship. It's a two way conversation.
The story of Abraham talks about how one day God wants to destroy a city. Abraham prays, he pleads with God. He has this conversation. If there are five people who are worthy, will you not destroy it for five people? And he pleads and he pleads and God says this, and Abraham says that, and God listens to Abraham, and Abraham listens to God. They have a conversation. That's what prayer is about. It's about a friendship. It's about relationship. It's about getting to know someone.
Further on in the Old Testament, there's a bloke called Moses. And Moses led 2000 Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus. And it says of Moses that God would speak to Moses as a man speaks with his friend. That's relationship.
I'm married. And if I just spoke to my wife all the time, and I never let her speak, or never listened, that wouldn't be much of a relationship. So prayer at it's heart is a two way conversation.
What Does Jesus Say About Prayer?
Jesus says an awful lot about prayer. Firstly, it says that we to have become like little children. What does that mean, "little children"? Well, my four year old, Hope. She's not in at the moment, but if she was, she might barge in the door and give me a hug, or ask for something. Little children. They always ask for things. And they come to their parents, and they think their parents can give them anything they ask for. They think their parents are all powerful. I'm not. But in the same way, we are God's children. God is our Heavenly Father. He wants us to come to Him with that kind of reckless abandonment, that kind of boldness that kids have. They haven't got any airs and graces. They don't think, should I ask my daddy for that? When they're four years old, they just ask. God wants us to come to him with that type of boldness. We can't do it but God's so much bigger than us. He possibly could.
Okay, what does Jesus say about prayer? Well, the Lord's Prayer is an amazing template for prayer. And it starts off with "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name". So, Jesus says that we should recognise who God is, how great he is, how big He is, that He's the God who created the Heavens and the Earth. He can answer prayers. But also, we should give him adoration. We should give him worship. We should thank him for who He is, and for what He can do.
It goes on to say about "your kingdom come". So when we pray, we can pray God's kingdom. What does that mean? It means that we can pray for good things to come into our communities, into our homes, into our schools. Places where we live, places where we work, the places where we socialise. We can pray for love, for joy, for peace, for gentleness, for kindness, for forgiveness, for honesty, for truth, for love. We can pray for God's kingdom, for Christian values to permeate our society. Your kingdom come.
Then it goes on to say, "give us this day, our daily bread", our needs. A few years back, I was unemployed, out of work, and we were struggling financially. The church that I go to, we've got a community, a group of Christians who meet together on a regular basis and we prayed. We prayed that God would give me my daily bread, would give us as a family our bread, who'd meet our needs. And over the course of those six weeks, we saw over 2 and half thousands pounds come in. After those six weeks, I was able to get another teaching job, a new job. Now God does want to meet our needs. Not always what we want, He's not Santa, He's not a slot machine, but he wants to meet our needs. And if we don't express that in prayer, then it won't get met.
So what does the Bible say that Jesus says about prayer? He says that we should ask for what we need. It goes on to say that we should "forgive those who sin against us" because God forgave us. I'm always moved when I read the story of Gee Walker. You know, Gee Walker is the mother of Anthony Walker who was murdered in a racist attack in Knowsley, in Huyton in 2005. And she forgave the two men who murdered her son, and she said that she forgave them because God forgave her. Her daughter, Dominique, Anthony's sister, said the Bible said you forgive someone 70 x 7 times. The Bible says 70 x 7. You should always forgive people. And I think Gee and Dominique did that because they know that when you forgive, it doesn't mean that you forget. But it means that you don't allow bitterness to rob you of the rest of your life. You forgive because, yes, it makes you feel better, and it means the person who did what they did, if they don't change it doesn't matter, but if you forgive, you're doing what Jesus told you to do. And you forgive because Jesus forgave you. When he died on cross he forgave all our sins. So we forgive. So Jesus says in prayer, we should forgive others.
And then he goes on to say about how we should steer clear of evil, "deliver us from evil". God can help us to stay away from evil and deal with evil if we pray.
What Does the Bible Say About Guidance?
Now I am a fervent Liverpool fan. I love Liverpool. And I was intrigued to read the story of Fabinho. Fabinho is a midfield player from Brazil. He joined Liverpool in 2019. He basically joined Liverpool because God said that he could. So I just want to read a bit of the story. Fabinho is a Christian. Fabinho decided to join Liverpool because he consulted God over the decision, according to his friends. The article goes on to say, Fabinho only made the move to Liverpool because the man upstairs said it was the right thing to do. Before agreeing to a £40 million transfer, Fabinho sent a message to a WhatsApp group of childhood friends, to pray for God's guidance about joining the reds. The article ends. The move to Liverpool was a no brainer. It's everything he ever wanted. But even so he wouldn't have signed if God did not want him to. When we ask and pray for guidance, like Fabinho, God will give us a sense of peace, that this is the right thing to do. A sense of unease may mean that it's the wrong thing to do. When we pray to God for guidance, we're saying that we're interdependent on God.
When you're young, when you're a baby, you're dependent upon your parents for everything. As you grow older, you become more independent. But as Christians, when we pray, we show God that we are dependent, interdependent upon him. Prayer is about living with and walking with God in relationship. Prayer is a sign that we are not number one. Prayer is a sign that our ego is not in control.
“For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God has plans for us. God has plans for our life. Our life can be an adventure. If we invite God into our lives through prayer, if we see prayer as something we habitually do, all the time, every day, then life will be an adventure, and we'll walk through it with God by our side.
CONVERSATION STREET
With: Matt Edmundson & Dan Orange
What is Conversation Street?
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt & Dan) chat through Sherlon’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. To watch the conversation now, click here.
Why Does God Not Answer People's Prayers Straight Away?
Matt: I don't think it's as black and white as saying, well, God's not interested if He's not answered your prayers. There are some tenants that we hold to be true and dear in the Christian faith. One is that God loves us each individually, uniquely and without limitations, that God has no favourites so he treats us all equally, and that God is in fact good. With those tenants in place, it is easy to go, why did this not happen? As parents, we don't always say yes to our kids. We don't always say yes straightaway, either. There are reasons. Unless it's me and the kids just want ice cream. But there are reasons aren't there, why it's not as straightforward as just saying yes or no. If I reflect back over my Christian life, there are times where I go, yes, God answered that prayer, where I go, yes, God answered that prayer but it took a while, where I go, God answered that prayer in a way that was completely not what I was expecting, which is probably more accurate most of the time. That's normally how God answers my prayer. When I'm praying about something, it's in my very limited human capacity, I don't see everything from beginning to end. I'm not God. And quite often, it's not maybe the situation that needs to change. It's maybe me that needs to change in that situation, and so, God not answering that prayer is maybe the better solution because perhaps it's me that gets changed there. Then there are just some times where you pray for sick ones, and they still pass away, and it is hard, and it is complicated.
Dan: I was just thinking about an example. So this house that we bought that I'm in now was tricky getting a mortgage. I worked for myself, and at the time I worked for Matt as well. So we had all our paperwork and everything ready to get this mortgage. It was going to be all tricky. I spoke with a financial advisor, and it was all going through. I filled in the forms, all ready to email off. And he came back to us and just said, "well, your bank just fast-tracked you. You don't need to do anything, you got the mortgage". Yay, that's amazing. And then we get to the Move-In Day. And we're sat in a house which is empty because everything's been taken out into a van. The mortgage hasn't come through because we've got to wait for some thing with a lease. So we were praying. We were sat in an empty house thinking people have bought the house, they've got to move in. We need to get out. And eventually things moved and God answered that prayer. But why didn't that all happen together?
But we got the chance to pray. Me and my wife sat in an empty house and prayed and something happened.
Matt: It is funny how there are just occasions like that where I think, it would have been easier if dot dot dot. But the reality of it is, it's not always like that. It's like God has got some big plan and I only know a fraction of it, and for some reason, the fraction that I know is not enough. It forces you to go, I guess God ultimately knows what he's doing.
Sharon's put here, I think one of the most difficult things is when we pray for people we love who are really ill and they don't get better or they even die. And it can be hard to understand why God wouldn't answer our prayers on that. And I think actually, when you get right down to brass tacks, that's probably one of the big questions, isn't it? Why does that happen? I was chatting with a guy on Instagram this week on CROWD church. We had put a reel up from Sharon's talk where she spoke about how she sees God in language and how there's language in DNA. And this guy was commenting on the feed saying, how can you serve a God or worship a God when there's suffering in the world? It's a similar thing. Why is there suffering? Why was there pain? Why was this prayer not answered? Why were they not healed like we think they should be, like we see Jesus doing in the New Testament? And they are very hard because I don't know if there's a clear cut answer in reality. But like I said, I do know that there are some tenants that God is good, He is faithful. And I don't see the end from the beginning like He does so we have to trust Him in it as hard and as painful as it is. But that's often easier said than done.
And I'd rather deal with it in the face of God, rather than in the absence of God, if that makes sense?
Dan: Yeah, I'm with you. Even when it's hard, I love that I can come before God and ask Him why. He's not going to slap me down for asking Him why did that happen? In my prayers, it doesn't have to be an all perfect. My prayers aren't perfect, they're just real. God help me with this. God, it's great to be here. God, why did that happen? Some of my best prayer times is when I'm not saying anything, I'm not praying anything, it's just being there with God.
Romans 8:26
Matt: What is your understanding of Romans 8:26?
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ”
Sharon says, I think I've experienced this when praying for people on many occasions, I'll be praying for someone and then a sense of God's Spirit hits me. And I end up in tears praying for a complete stranger and praying prayers I had no plan to pray. Any experience of that Dan?
Dan: Yeah, sometimes I can just see someone and whether God's told me something about them I can pray for or not, there is a yearning. I might feel, I think I need to pray for that person now. I need to pray for their heart, for their mind. It might be just something that God said about them. Pray into that. It could be friends, friends from work. People I've just seen on the street, people who I might never, ever see again.
I think with the Ukraine, it's like, where do you start? That's where I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is groaning on my behalf and groaning on people's behalf around the world that are praying. We don't know what to pray. Whether it's just for a particular person. A lot of what you will see on the news you can pray for. That little boy that just walked across the border into Poland, about eight years old, no one with him. Man, I was praying for him. That was like an obvious thing if you like. But whether it could be for the cameraman that captured him. Then there's other times when we don't know about those hundreds, thousands of others that are in those same situations, holding on to that verse, that the Holy Spirit's groaning and praying in that conversation with the Father.
Matt: Yeah. And I think that's the whole point of this verse isn't it? The prayers that you pray, don't have to be perfect. God leads us and directs into what to pray. It's not like God's sitting there waiting, going, I'm not going to do anything until you've asked me to do it. And best of luck figuring out what you should ask me to do. That's not the impression I get of God. I think God's very active in this whole thing.
Dan: I think it also comes back to what Sherlon was saying about prayer being a conversation. If you're in a marriage and you're talking with your wife and your husband, and you don't listen, or they don't listen, you're not gonna learn anything. But my marriage has grown because I've learned to listen. I've learned to talk and talk about the tricky things. If we're doing that with God, it's the same. We're learning, aren't we? Learning about His heart, and what He wants, and what we can do about it. If we just don't say anything, or don't listen, how can we grow?
What Do You Think About God Guiding You Through Prayer?
Matt: So Fabinho felt like he needed to ask his friends to pray before coming to Liverpool. Thank God God said yes. If that's the situation, what do you think of that whole idea? And have you had that kind of experience yourself? Not necessarily for Liverpool Football Club, but you know...
Dan: I think sometimes God just opens a door and we're just walking forward and we fall into it. I know that's what happened with my first job. The interviewer was rubbish. They answered my questions and gave me the job, and I do think that was God. But I also think, yeah, definitely clarify things. It might look like the most obvious thing to do is come and play for possibly the best team in the world. Come and get 40 million pounds or however that works. Still ask God though because there's no good doing something that God doesn't want you to do. That's the worst place to be in.
I Find Prayer Difficult At Times. Does This Resonate?
Matt: Sharon's put, I have great intentions, but sometimes the distractions win out. I think that's true of all of us, isn't it? I think prayer's a bit like healthy eating. You know it's good for you. You know you should do it. Exercise is the same thing, but for whatever reason, we just don't and we find other things to do in its place. I find that very, very illogical, but it is something we all do, right?
What Methods Do You Use To Help You Pray?
Dan: Different things. So I sometimes spend some time in the morning praying. That might just be quiet times, perhaps I read my Bible, perhaps I just have my eyes closed and I'm praying. When I go to the gym, 99% of the time I'm listening to worship music to drown out the doo doo doo that's going on in the gym. And I pray then. I had a bit of an odd revelation in the gym last week, that helping my body get in a better place has helped me to be able to pray, which seems strange and in the wrong order. I'd always have said, prayers the most important thing, which it is, but the actual discipline of training and looking after my body, that same discipline, has come into prayer as well. It's made me alert and it's made me think well, then I'm going to do this and I will do five minutes on this machine or whatever it is. That discipline has rolled on into other parts of my life and helped my prayer life.
What Do You Do When You Pray?
Dan: So I normally find somewhere quiet and begin by asking God to quiet my heart so I can, actually listen to Him. It's often so hard to get away from all the distractions. So, I'm not thinking about what I've got to do that day or what's happening. Sometimes I have a piece of paper so I can write down those things just to get them out of the way. So I can just spend time with God. For me, I normally close my eyes. Praying those things in my head to God. I don't normally speak out loud though.
What Is Speaking In Tongues?
Dan: Sometimes God gives me just a different language to speak in. And I think that's part of what we're talking about with the Holy Spirit helping us to pray. I'm praying, but I don't know what I'm praying. Just this language comes out of my mouth. And I just know, He's put that language in. It comes out and I'm praying for something. I'm doing the action of asking. God said pray, I'm praying. I don't quite know how to pray. I think there's some sort of translation going on there that God's at work in my heart.
How Can I Pray Effectively?
Matt: A lot of my prayer time is me talking to God about exactly what I should pray for, rather than assuming that I know what to pray for. Does that make sense? And then when I know I am praying, according to His will, which is what Jesus is talking about when He's talking about the Lord's Prayer. If we pray anything according to His will, we know that He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, we know that we have the answers that we desired of Him. And that's when prayers become powerful and effective, is when we as righteous men and women stand before God. And we understand the responsibility of prayer, and the power of prayer. That's when we start to pray prayers that are in line with God's will. Somehow, God, in all his wonder and miraculous creation answers those prayers. That's when we know that they're powerful and they're effective, because we take time to hear God on how to pray. Paul's put here in the comments, I find a prayer can simply be a reason to start the talk with God.
Different Types Of Prayer
And the Bible talks about all the different types of prayer. So there can be just this general chat with God. You know, this sort of conversation like Dan and I are having now. And then there are some prayers where we're praying for very specific things and we call those intercessory prayers. There's a prayer of thanksgiving, where we're just full of praise and gratitude, listening to worship, music, and all that sort of stuff. There's all these different types of things. But fundamentally, like Sherlon said, prayer is about a relationship with God, it is a conversation. And prayer isn't a slot machine. But it is a wonderful way to get to know God.
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More Bible Verses About Prayer
Philippians 4:6-8 - Do no be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
1 John 5:15 - Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Romans 8:26-27 - Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Luke 11:9 - Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:3 - Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Matthew 6:7 - And when you pray, do no keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Colossians 4:2 - Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Psalm 34:17 - The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
John 15:7 - If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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