Pray!
St. John 16.23-33
Rogate Sunday/May 5, 2013
LSS at Meramec Bluffs, Ballwin, Missouri
Rev. Keith R. Weise, chaplain
Invocation
Acclamation
Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
1We all know how to pray.
We pray when we wake up in the morning.
We pray before and after all our meals.
We pray at every
task
or
chore
or
activity
throughout the day.
Daily we pray for
our families
our friends
people we know who are sick
and
everyone in need.
Before bed we pray our evening prayers.
Not a moment of our lives passes by
without a prayer passing
from our heart
over our lips
and
to the ears of God.
Right?
2Ok.
So maybe we pray before meals.
And certainly we all pray together on Sunday mornings.
Perhaps we pray at
Bible Study
or
Devotion.
or
When there’s an
urgent need
or
crisis in our life.
3Maybe your prayer life is
robust
and
very active
and
not a moment goes by that you aren’t saying a prayer.
Maybe your prayer life is
weak
and
feeble
and
teetering on the verge of non-existence.
Maybe your prayer life is dead.
4Whatever your prayer life looks like,
today Christ our Lord has a word for us concerning prayer.
He says:
Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you . . . Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full . . . In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. (St. John 16.23-24, 26-28)
5Jesus says:
PRAY.
Ask the Father for the things you need.
PRAY.
Share
your worries
and
your troubles
with our Father.
PRAY.
Our Father in heaven will hear you
because you love me.
PRAY.
And your prayers will be answered.
6Jesus reveals that prayer is simply asking God.
Asking God for the things we need.
Asking God for the things he has promised.
And asking for them in Christ’s name.
7So,
in faith in Christ
and
in his name
we make our requests to God.
We ask that we may receive.
We ask that our joy may be full.
8But what does this sort of prayers look like?
How exactly should I pray?
What should I ask?
Ask for what God has promised to give.
Ask that his name be kept holy among us
as we
faithfully receive his word in Christ
and
strive to live holy lives.
Ask that God's kingdom come upon us
as we
receive the Holy Spirit from Christ
together with all his gifts.
Ask that God's will be done
among us
and
by us
as God
breaks and hinders every evil
and
destroys the work of the devil
by Christ at work among us.
Ask that God give us our daily bread.
That he
feed
and
nourish us
body
and
soul.
AND
That we remain mindful of the fact that
all we have
and
all we are
in this life
come as gifts from God above
delivered by the hand of Christ our Lord.
Ask for God’s forgiveness.
That for the sake of Christ’s death upon the cross
he would forgive our
paltry
pitiful
lives of prayer.
Ask that for the sake of Christ’s resurrection
he might raise us up to new life
filled with prayer
soaked in prayer.
and
permeated by prayer.
Ask that he would look not on any of our sins,
but instead
look upon Christ
crucified for our offenses
and
raised for our justification. Ask that God would always
see us through the crucified Christ
bless us because of the risen Christ
and
deliver us from our bondage of sin by Christ.
And by such deliverance free us to forgive those who do us wrong.
Ask that God defend us in temptation
that
the devil
the world
and
our sinful flesh
may not steal us away from Christ through
deception
despair
shame
or
vice.
Finally, ask that God deliver us from evil.
That he would
protect us from every evil that endangers
body
and
soul
and
grant us the heavenly protection of his holy angels alongside Christ our Lord.
9But chaplain, I could never remember all that.
Of course you can.
You pray this way every Sunday.
Some of you pray this way every day,
multiple times a day.
This is how the Church prays.
When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
He said: “When you pray say:
Our Father, Who art in heaven.
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Amen. (St. Matthew 6, St. Luke 11)
10Every prayer we offer fits into the Our Father.
Prayers for a world that
neither knows God
nor
respects him?
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Prayers for
peace
justice
and
the honor of all men?
Thy kingdom come.
Prayers for
patience
discernment
and
submission to God?
Thy will be done.
Prayers over meals?
Prayers over the Word?
Prayers before and after the sacrament?
Give us this day our daily bread.
Prayers of
contrition
and
confession?
Forgive us our trespasses.
Prayers for protection from
the devil
the world
and
our sinful flesh?
Lead us not into temptation.
Prayers for
healing
restoration
and
freedom from tribulation?
Deliver us from evil.
11Thus Jesus teaches us how to pray.
This is the kind of prayer Christ has promised God our Father will answer,
Whether we pray the entire Our Father
or
portions of it as the need arises.
Christ has promised,
that God will answer our prayers:
According to his will.
According to his time.
and
According to his grace.
So, brothers and sisters: do not neglect your prayers.
So not fear to pray.
We have a sure and certain word from Christ that our prayers will be answered
and
that God our Father
in answering them
will fill us with heavenly joy.
God grant it for Jesus’ sake.
AMEN.
Invocation Hymn of Response