Prayer Luke 18:1-8, NIV Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Introduction Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Prayer”. Prayer is conversation with God, our Creator, like a conversation with a family member or a neighbor. Often when we speak with people in higher positions we become cautious and nervous in our speech. With this same logic, our conversation with the Almighty God then should make us nervous and tremble. Humans are born to communicate. Before babies’ language skills develop and they are able to talk, they can express themselves through their eyes. Once I heard an interesting story. A well-known woman who is a public speaker and interviewer reserved a taxicab because of her tight schedule. Her speech lasted longer than was planned and the driver waited patiently for a long time for this woman. Time is money for a taxi driver. Eventually he got upset and when the woman came out in a hurry and got into the cab, he was about to complain. But she gave the driver a smile and said, “I’ve never met anyone who has ever waited for me for such a long time. Thank you.” At that moment a big smile spread over his face. His frown turned into a bright smile in a moment. He became kind and drove his car smoothly to her destination. 1. What to pray We have a conversation with God when we pray. We pray reverently before God because we are encountering the God who listens to every word we say. There are many kinds of prayers. We pray prayers of repentance. In this world sin is encroaching everywhere and we are always tempted. We easily get discouraged because of our sins and unrighteousness. When we come to God we become sorry about our sins. More than 10 times a day we repent and ask for his forgiveness. A sin free world where everybody declares himself as righteous has not yet come. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Where sin is found, there will be no answer from the Lord. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” It is precious to God when we confess our sins. If we make excuses after committing sin by saying, “What did I do wrong? There are others who sin worse than I do.” If we keep justifying ourselves and say, “It is not my fault!” God will reject us. When we humbly admit our faults, “I am a sinner. I did wrong. It was my fault. Oh, Lord please, forgive me.” Then the Lord will wash our sins away with his precious blood. We must be honest and trustworthy. There is also a prayer of thanksgiving. We should come to the Lord with praise and worship Him because the Bible tells us that our Lord is enthroned on our praises and thanksgiving. Psalm 50:23 says, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” God grants His salvation to those who give thanks to Him. It is right to give thanks to the Lord. Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” We need to pray fervently with thanksgiving. Then all anxieties and burdens of our hearts will leave and peace of God will take root in our hearts. An English poet and painter D. G. Rossetti once said, “A worst moment of an Atheist is that he doesn’t have any chance to give thanks to whom he ought to.” Christians appreciate the beautiful nature in God’s creation. “Oh, Lord my God! Thank you for this beautiful nature. How wonderful thy work is!” But atheists do not give thanks to God. Therefore beauty of nature does not give them satisfaction. They look at it in admiration and exclaim, “Great scene.” That is all. They do not give God any credit for creating it, nor give him proper honor. We should give thanks all the time for the grace of what the Lord has done for us. That is the prayer of thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” People are tired of being worried even though the Bible encourages us to not be anxious about anything. In fact worrying does not add a single inch to our height. By worrying we cannot change black hair to white hair nor white to black. We need to go to a barbershop to have our hair dyed. Therefore let us move. Let us do not worry about anything but put everything in God’s care. When we go to Him with thanksgiving, when we leave everything in His hand, He will take our anxieties and worries away and give us peace in our hearts. When Jesus was in this world, He gave thanks many times. During the Lord’s Supper, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. He then took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them. The whole process of Holy Communion given to His disciples was accomplished through thanksgiving. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He looked up before the tomb and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.” He gave thanks to God first and then called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” Then the dead man came out! And there is a prayer of asking for help. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-11, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. … how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” These days when I find a chance to be alone, I ruminate on my past 50 years’ ministry. I say to God, “I prayed a lot but still I cannot feel I’ve got the answer from you. Why is it so?” God would say to me, “About what did I do not answer you? Can you point it out?” So I replied, “I am weak. There have been many years between 20 and my age of 74. I’ve asked You for health over 50 years but you did not give me an answer.” “I did not answer you about your health, and that was my answer. If I gave you health you would not be here as a pastor. You would have done whatever you wanted and gone wherever you wished. Maybe you would have had another job.” It is because I was sick that I did not have any choice but to pray. I prayed and that was how I could be filled with the Holy Spirit; then respond to the calling of my Lord. Actually if I would have been healthy I might have wasted my time. I liked to play with my friends but I could not because I was too weak. I needed to pray all the time. The Lord’s “No!” was his answer to me; and I had to learn to work with this answer. I am therefore grateful for his answers and for no answer as well. There is nothing but thanksgiving. For sure the Lord is answering your prayer. And there is intercessory prayer. Charles. H. Spurgeon was a British Baptist preacher of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Church historians called him the “Prince of Preachers.” He was a well known world famous preacher. His 3561 sermons were transcribed as he spoke and have since been translated into many languages. After 100 years he is still beloved by many Christians. One Sunday morning in August of 1879 the Metropolitan Tabernacle was densely crowded, everyone waiting to listen to C. Spurgeon’s sermon. The main church members gave their seats to over 6000 new comers. Reporters were socked and kept asking “Where did these people come from? Why do they not go to other churches in London instead of gathering here like clouds?” One of Spurgeon’s church staff said, “Follow me. I’ll show you something.” He led them to a basement room where there were 400 church members praying. They prayed for the Holy Spirit to give their Pastor power. He said, “This is the engine of our church. Every time when Pastor C. Spurgeon preaches 400 members pray for him. This is why he has charisma and people could feel the grace of God during his sermon.” The reporters were amazed. If you have people who pray for you, you can get great help from God. This has been the case with me as well as many church members have prayed a lot for me and for this church. By their prayers and support I could carry on my 50 years’ ministry. I really appreciate their prayers. Because of their prayers I could overcome the past 50 years’ ministry. Intercessory prayer means to pray not for oneself but for others’ sake. We can pray for our neighbors, church, country, and world mission. Our church could experience such an explosive revival because of your prayers. Your prayer pushes us up toward explosive growth. I’m asking you today that you need prayers. Find prayer supporters. The greatest grace we could get as a Christian is prayer. When you have many prayer companions you can realize God’s help greatly. But so many times we do not know how to pray. 2. How to pray Although our prayers may be loud and roaring, they may be in vain, unless our prayers are orderly. Prayer should have some kind of order. If we want to receive answers to our prayer we need to pray with a clear goal. There is an old saying, “a fool stops applying fertilizer but follows people to the market place with manure.” What can he do with his manure in the marketplace? We go to the market only if we have a purpose to go there. Wouldn’t you agree? Faith is being sure of what we hope for. Prayer should have a clear goal. Too many goals bring us out of focus. The Lord said, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.” In our prayer sometimes we need to focus on one thing. Power of unity is really effective. When we moved to Yoido and began to build this church we immediately experienced an economic crisis. After our economic problems, many companies went bankrupt. Our situation was very critical. Many people said that Yoido Full Gospel church would go bankrupt. How could we endure? We endured because our church members showed their solidarity. We made up our minds and set a goal to raise the world largest church. We went through many difficulties but achieved our goal. One day an old lady of more than 80 attended one of our Friday overnight prayer meetings. It was my turn and I stepped up to preach. But she began to pull me from behind again and again. She looked like she wanted to say something. I said, “Oh, please. I myself am greatly tormented. Why do you want to hinder me like this? Please let me go.” She said, “Take a look please. Here, here.” She brought something wrapped in newspaper and wanted to hand it over to me. “What is it?” “I have something to say before the congregation.” “Please just have a seat there…” The next moment I saw her crying soundlessly. “All right come here. But just for 5 minutes please.” She unfolded before the people what she had brought to the prayer meeting. There were bowls, spoons and chopsticks made out of brass. She held them up high and started to say, “Brothers and sisters! Now this young pastor is making a church to save lost souls. I don’t have money to support him. I’m living by the aid of the government. I inherited these bowls, spoons, and chopsticks and now I want to sell them and offer the money to build the church. This is okay with me. Without bowls, spoons and chopsticks I can still eat my meals with other tools.” I stood there crying. Now whenever I look back and think about that moment, it brings tears to my eyes. I said, “Please, I cannot receive this from you. This is all you have.” She was over 80 years old. What kind of pastor am I who would be willing to take everything from her? She sat down on the floor and began to cry, “Do you think this is too little? Is this why you do not want to receive them from me?” Her emotions delivered a real impression to the other people. Thousands of people attended that service. Everybody stood up and raised their hands. Some said, “I will offer my house.” “I will sell my car” “I will offer my income from this whole year.” That night all the finances we needed to finish the construction of the church came in. Everyone signed their pledges and I took the papers to Han-il Bank which is located in Bul-Gyuang-Dong. The president of the bank told me that he had never seen such a thing before. He promised to lend me money for the construction. “This church will be built for sure. But there is one precondition to this contract, Pastor; and it is that your health is okay…” Those days I could not eat because of my anxiety. I became very weak, and looked like a skeleton. When I walked I felt the ground sway. The bank manager demanded a medical certificate. I was so anxious over it! What if they find any vestige of tuberculosis through the x-ray examination? Then the examination was over. I prayed before I went to see the x-ray results. The medical staff looked at the x-ray picture and told me that everything was alright. “You are healthy,” they said. The bank then lent us money and that’s how we built this church. Our church attendants grew to 10,000, then 20,000, and even 30,000. We could pay the money back to the bank very quickly. The will power of the people brought great results. Solidarity is really powerful. No matter how strong a political force or military power is; if there is not any unity that force will not be able to prevail through mental anxiety. The reason why the universal church is strong is because Christians are united in Jesus Christ. Throughout history all the nations which fought against the church have perished. Look at the Roman Empire. They had fierce fights against Christianity. Through 10 kings they persecuted Christians cruelly but at the end they became a Christian empire. Now in North Korea many Christians are suffering from hard persecution but there are underground churches and they keep their faith. They capture Christians and put them in concentration camps and kill them but Christians do not give up their faith. The fire cannot be put out. Faith is so strong. An Emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, used to say before a battle. “We have already won this battle. The plan has been achieved in the tent. We only run to battle looking for our reward.” An Austrian physician and famous surgeon from Wien University, Lorenz Boehler, analyzed the common points of 200 great people throughout history. He then summarized their success results from their efforts. Boehler found that these people lived successful lives, not because they were smart, but because they pursued a clear goal every day of their lives. Genius does not guarantee success. The goal of life must be set up. No matter what others say successful people stay on task with their goals. We are to set a clear goal and faithfully go forward. Faithfulness is what we need. Our success will not be guaranteed if we give up in the middle of the race even if we run very hard. The Bible says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for.” Therefore when you have clear hope you can have faith and when you have faith you can have a dream which will occupy your heart and it will force you to accomplish your goal. People say, “I cannot pray for a couple of hours. I cannot find the words. I cannot make conversation with God for such a long time.” We had better not keep babbling when we pray but rather concentrate on the subject. I cannot pray longer than 10 minutes if I try to use many words. If we come here to receive an answer from God we should have a clear goal in our prayer and concentrate on that goal. We need to drop everything and come to Jesus crying for help. Then the Lord will answer us beyond and above what we expect of Him. Our God is a God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. When we pray, we must believe and not doubt. The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Let us come to our God and confess our faith with our lips continually then the Lord will give us our answer. Until we get our answer we should not stop praying. Do not give up. James 5:17-18 says, “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” When we pray with a burning desire God will listen to us and answer us. 3. A widow and a judge Jesus told us a parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, which we read today. This widow shows us an example of how to pray. She had a clear goal and asked with a burning heart. The judge refused for some time. But she did not give up. “Oh no, tomorrow she will show up again. This widow will keep bothering me… I will see that she gets justice so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming.” The widow must have had strong faith to be persistent in her asking; otherwise she would have stopped asking for justice after her first refusal. Day and night without ceasing she asked and cried out for help. Therefore the unjust judge could not bear her asking anymore and gave her an answer. Brothers and sisters! Prayer is breathing for Christians. Many times we pray asking God for help instead of giving thanks and praise. Asking God for help is not wrong. The men of faith in both the Old and New Testaments asked God for help, expecting an answer without losing their hearts. There are also pure thanksgiving prayers but most often people ask for God’s present help in prayer. We are not wrong when we call out to God for help. When we pray in line with God’s will, He will open the windows of heaven and answer our requests. God will answer you with His goodness. Even today salvation will happen to you. Healing will take place. Devils will flee away. Miracles will happen to us. Good blessings will come across your path. If God is with us good things will happen to us above and beyond our expectation. Today good things will happen to you because God is a good God. He is there behind heavenly curtains for us. We had better live like people who are with God. Realize your identity. God is with you. If you rely on God, pray to Him, and live a life of faith, you can live a successful life. Let us pray together. Father God! So many times we live in this world discouraged, powerless, and feeling lonely. Oh, God if you are not there for us, there is no one to help. Our Father God, today we come to you and expect your miracles. When we share your word and when we pray, please let us get wisdom and power from you. Please answer our prayers. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 1