“30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD.”
Exodus 8:30, NIV

The preacher’s 5-year-old daughter noticed her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon. One day she asked him why.
“Well, honey,” he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages, “I’m asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.”
“How come He doesn’t do it?” she asked.

Good question. Along with a lot of other good questions, especially about prayer.
A while ago we sent out a questionnaire about different preaching topics for the year. One of the replies dealt with the question of prayer. As we talked among the Elders, we saw a need for teaching on prayer. So I will spend the next few weeks talking about prayer.

I have some goals. When I think of the church, I think of people, not a building or a program. When I think of the church I think of people who are committed to following Jesus. We are like an army behind our commander-in-chief. We are like a business under the authority of our CEO. We are like a team, under the direction of the head coach.

With these pictures in mind, communication is important. Communication is important in the army, business, sports teams, and in the church. Of all the communication that takes place, our communication with God is the most important.

Why? Because we are here for God. God bought us with a great price. He sent his Son to die on the cross so we could be saved. He sent the Holy Spirit to baptize us into his body, the church. He loves the church and gave himself for it.

When the church exists primarily for the church or the people of the church or for the community, it ceases to be a church. When we meet together, we meet primarily for God’s benefit. Our benefit is secondary.

So in this body, this group of people, I believe God wants everyone of us to talk to Him. That is my first goal, to encourage every Christian to talk to God.

I also want to encourage you to start praying out loud. In the Bible every prayer that we have recorded was said out loud at some point. If not, the person could not have recorded it. Abraham prayed out loud, Sarah prayed out loud, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and Paul all prayed out loud. The disciples prayed out loud. Some Christians are afraid to pray out loud, and I want to help you over that hump.

I want to encourage children to pray. I view Luke 1:46-55 as a prayer. It doesn’t say so directly, but it sounds like a prayer to me. Mary, the mother of Jesus gives this prayer.

Two things I want you to notice in this prayer. First, Mary is probably between thirteen and eighteen. She is a young woman. Second, notice the depth of this statement. This is eloquent. This is high language. This is from the mouth of a young woman who is in the habit of talking to and about God. This kind of heart-felt expression can only come from someone who habitually prayed to God.

“46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers.””
Luke 1:46-55, NIV.

I hope that families will start to encourage their children to pray. Sometimes we ask children to pray in Sunday School or Youth Group and many of them have never prayed publicly. You can tell they are uncomfortable with prayer. It is not a habit with them to talk to God. I hope that parents will start encouraging their children to pray, that parents will pray with them, that parents will have them pray out loud.

I hope attendance at prayer meeting will increase. Prayer meeting is the work night of the church. In our Dare-To-Care program we make phone calls, send out letters and pray. Only eternity will show us how God has honored the prayers of those who have been faithful in praying. And some of you would make better use of your time if you were to come and pray with the church for the needs of our church and community.
I hope that through this series we will be drawn closer to God. That is where we started. We need to communicate with our leader. We need to talk to our Savior. We need to develop a relationship with our Lord.

So let’s start by asking the question, “What is prayer?”
First, prayer is talking to God. Anytime you talk to God, no matter what words you use, you are praying. In the Lord’s prayer Jesus said, When you pray, pray, “our Father which art in heaven…”

This is where so many of us go wrong. We think that the audience of our prayer is other people. So we are afraid to talk to God because others might judge our prayer and find it lacking. But prayer is not fundamentally talking to people, it is talking to God. God is our audience. We make a mistake when we pray to people. Our prayers are prayers to God. We are connecting with our Lord. We are connecting with Jesus who is the head of the church. We are communicating with our leader.
Others may hear, but they are listening in. We are not talking to them, we are talking to God.
There is a form of prayer we call intercessory prayer. An intercessor is someone who comes between us and someone else when we are in trouble. But the intercessor is on our side. They speak up for us. They plead our case.
We can pray for other people. Sometimes, like what happens on Sundays, when someone prays in a congregational meeting, they intercede for all of us. When someone says grace at a meal, they are thanking God on behalf of everyone around the table. But the person is still taking to God, not to us. They are talking for us, but their mind and heart are directed towards God. I would encourage you when you pray to understand that prayer is talking to God. It is not preaching a sermon or making a point. It is talking to God.

Now a second point I would make that comes out of this would be that our prayer should be respectful. “Hallowed be thy name…” Jesus said.
We don’t need to use high English or have our words perfect. But when we talk to God we should be respectful. There are certain things some of you would never say in church. You might want to consider the idea that if they are wrong in church, they are wrong outside of church as well, for God is both here and there. There are certain things you would never say to your mother or father. There are certain things you would never say to a coach or teacher. Why? Because in some way they would be disrespectful.

So don’t be flippant with God. Treat him with respect when you pray. But when you pray, talk to Him.

A third point I would make is that sincerity matters. God knows our hearts. Don’t try to pull one over on God. You can pull one over on me or on anyone in the congregation, but you cannot pull one over on God. Be sincere.

So prayer is talking to God. What a wonderful experience that is for us. To talk with politicians, presidents, world leaders would be a thrill. To meet Tom Brady, Kevin Garnett, Tiger Woods or Manny Remerias would be something to talk about for days. But to meet and talk with the creator of the universe, what a wonder that is for us.
And also for God. God looks down on his creation and sees wars, greed, immorality, hungar and sickness. He sees every family fight, listens to every curse word uttered.
But when he hears the prayers of the saints, it is like sweet smelling incense to him.

“4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand.” Revelation 8:4, NIV.

Our prayers are a relief from the constant sin and suffering sin causes. God is pleased when we spend time with Him.