Stoopid Prayers

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

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This is the Truth Network. Encouraging prayer. God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Chronicles and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. James, before we went on the air, you told me that today we're going to talk stupid prayers.

Of course, that's got to catch, so, you know, just have out with it. All right, now, if I have to, but you don't spell it the same, Bobby. We're not talking about stupid praying, s-t-u-p-i-d. We're going to spell it a little differently. We're going to call it stupid s-t-o-o-p-i-d praying. I see where this is going. If you stoop, s-t-o-o-p, you're bowing when you pray, right? You're humbling yourself.

That's right. And what really got me started on this was something I read from Oswald Chambers, an excerpt from his writing that, you know, never made it into my utmost for his highest. As you know, you know, that work was edited out of his previous writings, as we talked about last week. But he actually writes about something he calls stupid praying, and there he spelled it, s-t-u-p-i-d.

But just listen to this. He says, prayer to us is not practical. It is stupid. And until we do see that prayer is stupid, that is stupid from the ordinary, natural, common sense point of view. We will never pray. So what Chambers is describing is the way we often look at prayer, like it's a last resort. We do everything we can first, and then we pray, right? And so we really got it backwards.

Yeah, exactly. And we need to humble ourselves and come into that place of dependence on God first, that dependence in everything. This is what he really wants of us. So Chambers says that our mentality too often is, it's absurd to think that God is going to alter things in answer to prayer. But that is what Jesus says he will do.

And that's a direct quote from Chambers. And then he goes on to point out that it is a child who has prayer answered. And he adds this, we have to be as natural as children in our relationship to Jesus. And then he points to Jesus' words in Matthew 11 25, where he says, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. So Jesus said it pleased God to do that. And God wants us to open our minds and our hearts to Him like children. But to do that again, we have to humble ourselves. And that isn't always easy to do.

Let's talk about what that looks like. I mean, we're not talking about praying without thinking. We're talking about something else here, right? Yes, you might sum it up with the phrase, little visits. I was just thinking about that this morning when I was praying.

Here's what I mean. We need to see ourselves as little children when we come to Jesus, when we talk to the Father. And you've talked about that, about crawling up to the Father's lap.

And I like that perspective, because I'm a grandfather, and I love it when my little grandson comes over. You know, I cherish those moments with him. And of course, God cherishes our moments with him more than we can comprehend. So when we go to God in prayer, it's like a little visit with Abba Father, where we get to go to Him.

And if we start with that kind of childlike dependence, it helps so much. It also helps when we understand that God wants us to pray all the time, because prayer is all about relationship. So even the smallest things in our lives can be brought before Him. This is simply abiding in His presence, as Jesus talked about. And we'll find that kind of praying really makes a difference.

You know, when my wife lost her car keys the other day, and we'd looked all around the house after we had done all that looking, it was interesting that it was in the same moment that I prayed, God, please help us to find Carrie's keys, that I immediately walked right up to where they were. So instead of thinking, God is too great to be bothered with such things. This is like thinking God is so great that he wants us to come to Him with the smallest things, and bringing the small things before Him more and more. And that'll result in a life of ongoing prayer before Him, right?

That's it. And it isn't just about us and our needs, you know. It's about just loving God and praising Him for the simplest things. Simple praise is beautiful. Simple thanks lifts your hearts.

Just like a child says, I love you so freely. That's what God wants of us. Yeah, so we really want to be stuck on stupid, right? When we pray, no matter how you spell it. Exactly.

You know, we really could say that. It helps us stay dependent. It helps us love and praise God. It helps keep us from overt sin, because He's always the way out when we're tempted. And if we're talking to Him in the moment, oh man, that helps. And it helps us rest in Him, because we're not trying to control everything.

We're learning to trust. I recall something I read recently from Ben Patterson about praying with his son when he was small. His son had lost his favorite stuffed animal. And, you know, of course it was the one he slept with, and no matter where they looked, they couldn't find it. So you could imagine what bedtime was like that night.

I mean, it was pretty traumatic. So Patterson is in the moment, and he's feeling for his son. I mean, he prays something like this in front of him. God, please help us to find that toy so that my little boy will know that you love him.

And of course, as soon as he walks out of the room, he regrets that he prayed it, thinking, whoa, what have I done? You know what? What if we never find it?

Then what? Is my son going to think that you don't love him, or worse, that you're not real? But no sooner did he take another step that the thought crossed his mind that his son had had a sleepover, and his sleeping bag was up in the attic, and maybe he should go check there. And of course, that's where the stuffed animal was. And he was able to, you know, bring it back to his son triumphantly.

There was a great celebration. And, you know, just in a simple, small way, he was able to point to, God loves you so much, and he cares about little things. Yeah, so just by really loving his child, he ended up praying like one.

Exactly. And that's a good place for us to be. That's where the father, Abba Father, you know, a childlike expression, that's where he wants us to be.

So let's just wrap up with this. Being simple when it comes to prayer doesn't mean you give up thinking when you pray. Actually, it means that you honor God by opening your mind to him much more. When we open our minds to him, by saying, Lord, your ways are so far beyond mine, you have access into the situation that I could never think of. So I'm just going to ask, you know, this is another way of loving him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. So let's pray that we can do this more and more. Father, thank you that we get to do this, to come to you like little children.

Help us to do this more, to just love you, to run to you more and more so that our little visits become longer and longer, and we're increasingly in your presence. Lord, open our hearts and minds and imaginations so that we will see what only you can do in answer to prayer and praise you and love you all the more for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina.

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