Title: Why Pray
(And he said to them, "Which of you has a friend, and he goes to him in the middle of the night and says, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. My friend came to me on a journey, but I have nothing to feed." He answered from within, "Do not trouble me, the door is already there." It is closed, and the children are lying in bed with me, so I can't get up and give it to you. I tell you, though I say to you, though he will not get up and give him because of his friendship, he will rise up and give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. It will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and it will be opened to him who knocks. If you ask for it, will you give him a scorpion? If you, though evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Last week, we talked about 'How to live a good life of faith?'
Today, in a continuing context, I would like to think about prayer because there is nothing more important than prayer in the life of faith.
People who live without faith find it strange to see them praying.
What could be accomplished by doing so?
I doubt it, and I try to deny it at all.
Because there is no prayer, they live worrying instead.
In real life, no one lives without worries.
Everyone has concerns.
When things don't go well, when something goes awry and you can't see a solution, when things don't go your way, everyone is worried.
It is because we are humans who live with such worries, we need prayer. Worrying means having a problem, and having a problem means that all humans are limited beings.
We humans have limited abilities.
There are limits to our human wisdom.
It means that we are all living beings that are limited by our environment.
People who do not believe live worrying instead of praying, so they are afraid before the most important thing. For example, people who do not have faith despair when they reach a point where they cannot get up again on their own. give up on yourself.
But believers do pray.
Because the Lord taught us to do just that.
Matthew 6:25ff: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry for your life what you will eat or drink or about what you will wear for your body. Life is not more than food, nor the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or gather in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not more precious than these? Who among you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
And why are you anxious for clothing? Consider how the lilies of the field grow. Neither toil nor weaving. But I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like this one flower. If God cloths the grass of the field that is today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more is it you? You of little faith! Therefore do not be anxious and say, What shall we eat, what shall we drink, or what shall we wear. These are all the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
How important and precious are these words?
The world lives with worry and sorrow, but believers live with prayer. This is different. Then why are you telling us to pray?
1. Prayer is because we are limited and incompetent.
In today's text, it is said that the friend who came to him in the middle of the night did not have any bread, so he went to another friend to find something to eat.
This is a great lesson for us.
We all have things we don't have.
First of all, they are beings who have no bread to share.
How many people are weary today because there is no bread!
But I don't have the strength to help them.
It's a world where everyone is in a hurry to make up for themselves.
In this way, we are all incompetent beings.
They are beings that can't do anything with even a single hair on their head.
With what can a person do everything according to his own will?
It looks like it can do something, but there is really nothing it can do.
It seems to exist, but it is always a concern because it is not enough.
There seems to be a problem, but the truth is that it cannot solve one life problem.
Why do people want happiness but can't?
Because they are all limited and incompetent.
So when I admit that I don't even have a piece of bread, I pray to God.
They are incompetent beings who cannot give a piece of bread to a friend who has come a long way. so pray
They are beings to live with.
They are beings who must live while praying to God, who has infinite power.
2. We must pray, but we must pray persistently and earnestly.
If you look closely at the contents of today's text, this is the content.
A friend comes to me at night and knocks on the door. I went to bed and kept knocking on the door. What they are saying while knocking is to borrow only one loaf of bread.
He asks for a loaf of bread because he ate all and had nothing left in his house.
It's a saying that I have to get up because I'm begging and beating persistently.
?쏧 tell you, though he will not rise up and give him because of his friendship, he will rise and give him whatever he needs because of his insistence.
In the original text, the word gangcheong (凉븃쳦) is the word horse, which means to earnestly seek without fear of shame and without backing down like a cheolmyeon skin. It means to hang on in spite of face.
If you look at the salesman training, there is a saying that if you ask once or twice, don't give up if you don't listen to it, and keep it up.
In the end, it will be opened to those who knock
is not rational thinking.
is not even a reasonable answer.
appears as a super rational response. The parting of the Red Sea cannot be imagined by rational thought.
Living water bursting from a rock or bitter water turning into sweet water cannot be interpreted as rational. The fall of Jericho is an absurd and unbelievable thing for military experts to believe. But that is the power of God.
To believe in it is faith.
And asking for it is prayer.
Prayer is the answer of faith. So the Lord said, "According to your faith, do it!"
3. Therefore, we must believe that prayers have answers.
?쏛sk and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you; everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.??Wouldn't this be so obvious!
[Not asking] What can you get?
[I can't find it] How do I find it?
[Not knocking] Who will open the door?
It's a very natural word.
However, although it is quite natural, without faith, this cannot happen.
Everyone! When you go out to ask a friend, no one is suspicious.
It is a vain step if you are a person who goes to the 'and must be done' without faith in the first place.
Also, if you are looking for that, there is no earnestness. Therefore, when we pray, we must believe and ask for answers. For example, when you make a phone call, you must believe in God's answer and pray, just as you do with the expectation that the other person will come.
?쏧f you, though you are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.??
We must believe that all our prayers are answered.
Even if it doesn't happen according to My Way, you have to believe that everything will come true. You may not understand this very well at first.
How can it be said that it has been achieved when it has to be done according to my will, as I want it to be? There are many cases where you think so.
There was a case where I applied for the Air Force Academy and was rejected in the physical examination.
I received a rejection notice due to a defect in hearing function.
At that time, I was very upset. My intention was to become a pilot and drive a fighter to the northeast and suffocate with a machine gun fire.
So, it didn't go the way I wanted, but now I have to confess that God has led me to a better path.
pastor! How good!
There is no restructuring, and even though it is material compared to the executives of the world's corporations, the fact that the status of a pastor can be dealt with anyone does not know how precious it is. Please do not think that my prayers have been answered only when it is done according to my wishes.
I have to trust that God will lead me to a better way.
This is the attitude of a good believer.
For those who live with this kind of faith, they will live with the feeling that everything will work together for good and prosper. does not have to be long. Most of the Lord's prayers were a few words of prayer. The important thing is that the prayer must be specific with faith.
??The Salvation Army's Founder Captain advised people, "Work as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on your prayers." When we pray, we must pray even if we have faith that God will answer us.
??The man of prayer who worked as a missionary in India said that he prayed as if God was right next to him. He had faith as if the Lord was there to answer him right away. But above all else, the most important key to receiving answers to prayer is to pray humbly. Because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
??Also, the church in the days of the apostles did everything through prayer.
The apostle James told the Christians of his day that their spiritual poverty came from neglect of prayer. ?쏽ou do not have, because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive, because you ask erroneously, to spend it on your lusts??(James 4:2).
We are all weak beings. You cannot live without prayer. Therefore, I hope that all of us will become people who live with the experience of answering prayers. ??