Church of the Nazarene – East Rockingham Campus
Everyday Faith Part 1
Prayer
Everyday Faith
Over the next few weeks we are going to look into critical, every day tools or practices that go into building our faith and growing our relationship with the Lord
Our series begins with prayer. Our relational lifeline to the Lord.
As we seek to learn about everyday faith, it’s important to know right from the beginning that Jesus is our model for life and faith.
As you look at Jesus’ life in the New Testament, you will see that Jesus prays a lot.
Perhaps our first lesson in prayer would be that if Jesus, the son of God, prayed, so should we.
But moving beyond that, what do we see?
John 11:41-42
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Lazarus is 4-days dead at this point, but Jesus is about to raise him to life. But before he does, he stops and prays. And his prayer is to his Father.
If you think about this idea, father is a relational term. It’s a relationship of trust and dependance, of safety and joy.
I know today that not everyone’s relationship to their earthy father may be a positive one- but think about your best and closest friend.
You can be honest with them with how you are feeling. You can tell them what you are thinking or processing, without fear of judgement. It’s a safe space. It’s a comfortable place.
Friends, that’s how we see Jesus engage prayer, and that’s how we too are invited to approach talking to our heavenly father.
What we see is that prayer is an opportunity in relationship, not an obligation of religion.
Another thing that jumps out to me about how Jesus prayed is that he prayed about the practical things of his life.
When Jesus needed wisdom and guidance on who would be his 12 disciples, he prayed. Before Jesus broke the bread to feed the 5000 people- he prayed and gave thanks. In John 17, Jesus knows that his disciples are about to be shaken to the core by his crucifixion, so he prays for them.
You get the picture that prayer flowed from the everyday life of Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Mark 1:32-35
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Jesus prayed. After the day he had, nobody would have blamed Jesus for hitting the snooze button a few times before rolling over to ask Peter what was for breakfast.
But Jesus doesn’t do that. He gets up early, gets dressed, slips out of the house, and goes to pray alone.
Jesus prioritized prayer.
Luke 11:1-4
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. ’ ”
In this text, Jesus has just been praying as he often did. As soon as he finishes praying, one of his disciples comes up to ask him about prayer “Lord, teach us to pray…”
This follower of Jesus has seen the power and impact of prayer in Jesus’ life and now, he wants to know how to do it. Friends, this is us today.
We have seen the prayer life of Jesus, we want to be more like him, to build prayer into our everyday routines.
When Jesus’ disciples asked him how to pray, he gave them what many people call “The Lord’s prayer”
To be sure, just like any relationship, there are times in prayer when we are listening and NOT speaking. But when Jesus disciples asked, he gave them words to speak.
This prayer embodies Jesus’ outlook on prayer. It is personal and relational, addressing God as “Our father”. It invites the Lord’s rule and power to come. “Thy kingdom come”. We surrender our desires and plans over to his “They will be done”
This prayer is super practical, both physically and spiritually.
Our goal over the next few weeks will be to understand and grow in the practices that help us live out our faith.
Just like we brush our teeth, comb our hair, we change our clothes, we take a shower. Our faith life has those same daily things we need to be doing to be healthy and growing to be like Jesus.
Things like reading the bible, serving, fellowship and community, and humility. Each week we are going to focus on one of those daily practices for our faith life.
This week we intentionally started with prayer because it’s really our lifeline connection to the Lord.
Will you take a step in your everyday faith to pray like Jesus today?