Consider the domestic camel.  When used as a beast of burden, there is only one way to load it up.  It has to get down onto its knees so that its master can place its burden upon it.   A camel has to get down onto its knees before it can begin its work for the day.  Then, when the day is done, it has to get down onto its knees to have the load taken off of it.  A camel has to kneel when its work day begins and when its work day ends; That is the only posture a camel can handle.  It can't roll onto its side.  It can't just stay standing to receive its load.  It has to kneel.  That is part of being a camel.

Consider the average Christian.   The average Christian begins each day like everyone else, receiving the load of burdens that has to be carried through the day.  The Christian lives through the day much like everyone else, living with the problems, the responsibilities and the cares that each of us have to face.  Yet, the Christian is different from everybody else.  The Christian is offered a wonderful privilege by God.  The Christian is offered the privilege of praying in Jesus' name.  The Christian can get down onto his or her knees as the day begins to get ready for the burdens of the day.  The Christian can get down onto those knees again as the day ends to have those burdens lifted again.  The Christian prays.   Prayer is a part of being a child of God.  Our Gospel lesson this morning tells us that we should pray, and we should pray boldly.  As children of God, Jesus helps us to pray boldly!

 

Our Gospel lesson this morning tells us that prayer is more than just a privilege and a blessing.  God actually commands us to pray.  God expects us to pray to Him for everything and at every occasion.  Prayer is not something we can set aside for a rainy day.  It is not something we have the option of doing only when we feel like it.  God tells us in Chronicles, "Look to the Lord and His strength.  Seek His face always."  (1 Chronicles 16:11)   In the Psalms He says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you."  (Psalm 50:15)   And Jesus told His followers, "So I say to you, ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."  (Matthew 7:7)  

All of those passages sound like wonderful offers, but we forget sometimes that they are more than just that.  They are also commands directed to people whose hearts have been turned to God through faith.  Jesus did not say, "If you ask" or "If you seek" or "If you knock".  He said, "Ask, seek and knock."  It is a command.  It is something God tells us to do.  The Lord tells us to turn to Him and talk to Him.  God tells us to pray, and He tells us to pray boldly.

Praying, really praying boldly and in a God-pleasing way, is not easy. St. Augustine once called praying "the most difficult of good works a Christian can do."  Praying is hard because we are often distracted in prayer.  It is hard because we sometimes do not even feel like praying.  It is also hard because we may not be sure if we are good enough to pray so that God will listen to us.  A real, God-pleasing prayer is a hard thing to do.  That is why one of the disciples asked Jesus in our Gospel lesson this morning, "Lord teach us to pray."

Even the disciples needed help praying.  Even they thought it was hard.  These were the people who spent much time with Jesus and much time learning God's Word.  They listened to very many of Jesus' prayers as our Lord took them with Him to pray, but they still needed all the help the Lord could give them in learning how to pray the right way.  They needed help in learning to pray boldly.

We need help in praying because we are so easily distracted.  So many things get in the way as we try to pray.  You know what it is like.  You decide that you are finally going to set a little time aside to pray more than just a poem you learned in childhood.  You may decide you want to take time to pray the Lord's Prayer in such a way that you can really think of every word and what it really has to say.   Then again,  you may decide to pray in such a way that your own thoughts and feelings flow freely out toward God.  You decide to go some place quiet and concentrate fully in talking to God in prayer.  But then, almost immediately, your thoughts begin to wander.  You remember something you should have done and you are tempted to leave your praying in order to finish your business.  A guilty thought comes into your mind and that sets off others.  All sorts of thoughts enter into your head and before you know it, you have forgotten what you have been praying about.

Many great Christians have admitted freely how hard it is to pray.  Luther said, "When I would speak and pray to God by myself, a hundred thousand hindrances at once intervene before I get at it."  St. Bernard once complained that he could not pray even the Lord's Prayer without having his thoughts stray.  He tells us that one day, one of his friends heard his complaint and said, "I bet you your horse that I can pray that prayer and keep my mind on it all the way through."  Bernard asked him to try, and as the man prayed, he suddenly wondered if the saddle would come along with the horse.  He couldn't concentrate completely on the Lord’s Prayer, either.  It is  hard to get away from the distractions that surrounded us and simply get down to praying.  It is hard to take our thoughts away from what we see all around us and direct them to a God who is not always so easy to see. 

Many times we let those distractions frustrate us to the point where we don't think it is worth it to pray anymore.  We become distracted to the point where we find it very difficult to be bold in our prayers.  We figure, "If I can't send up any perfect prayers to God, why should I even bother?"  We get the feeling that how we pray depends solely upon who we are and how much we believe, and if we get distracted, it must mean we don't believe enough.  When we think like that, though, we are very wrong.  When we think like that, we really will stop praying regularly and sincerely.  We will let go of one of the great gifts of faith that God has given us.  

The great saints of the Bible and throughout history continued to pray despite the fact that we are all so easily distracted when we pray.  They continued to pray boldly, just as Abraham did in our Old Testament lesson for today.  They continued to pray boldly because they knew something about prayer that we often forget:  Our prayers do not depend on how good we are.  They depend on how good God is.  

God is the one that makes prayer powerful and effective.  God is the one that makes sure that prayer does make a difference.  We do not have to be perfect in order to pray.  We don't have to use the best words we can think of or be the best speaker around.  We don't have to have the strongest faith imaginable before our prayer is strong enough to reach God.  All we need to do is to talk with God and tell Him our needs and God will take it from there.  He promises to hear us in Jesus’ name.  

Indeed, God makes many promises in regard to prayer.  In the book of Isaiah, God says, "Before [My children] call I will answer, While they are still speaking, I will hear." (Isaiah 65:24)   In the book of Jeremiah, God said, "Call to Me and I will answer you."   (Jeremiah 33:3)  Jesus said, "My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name."  

God is the one who wants us to pray.  His promise to hear our prayers gives those prayers their meaning and their power.  God is the one who blesses us in our praying.  Pray boldly out of faith, and then let God decide whether or not your prayers are good enough!

   In a little country telegraph office a visitor sat by the stove while the operator prepared to send out a message he had just received.  The visitor happened to get a glimpse of the destination of the message.  "That's one of those little places out on the prairies, isn't it?" he asked.  When the operator nodded, the visitor continued, "Well, according to the papers, they have been having a terrible snowstorm up there lately.  More than likely the roads are blocked and the message will never get through to the man you are sending it to."  The operator listened with growing impatience and replied, "I'm not running both ends of the line.  I'm only responsible for this one.  There is someone at the other end who understands his business without me trying to carry his worries for him!"

As children of God, we do not have to worry about what God will do with our prayers.  We rely on God's promise that He knows what He is doing when He asks us to pray.  We rely on Him through faith.   

God hears our prayers.  It might take a lot of praying and a lot of time before we see that for ourselves, but in faith we know God hears us.  In faith we know that Jesus died for us so that our sins and our distractions would not take us away from God.  Jesus died to bring us back to God.  He rose again so that we may have forgiveness, and by that forgiveness, the means to pray to God in a way that really counts, because Jesus has made us worthy to be heard.   As the Bible says, "Jesus is our righteousness, our holiness and our redemption."   Since we are righteous and holy through Jesus Christ, we can be confident that our prayers will not go unanswered.

Jesus promises He will give us the boldness we need to pray in a way that pleases God and blesses us.  He helps us with that by offering us His very name.  He says, "Until now you have not asked for anything in My name.  Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."  You will receive the faith you seek.  You will receive the boldness you need.   You will receive all the spiritual blessings God offers you.  The door of faith will be opened to you, through Jesus Christ.  That faith will make it possible for you to pray persistently and forcefully until that time when God answers your prayer.

God knows that we are easily distracted.  He knows that we cannot pray as often as He asks and we are not as strong in prayer as we should be, so He offers us His Son to give us faith.  On top of that though, God knows that we often do not know what to say, so He offers us His Spirit to pray on our behalf and make us bold in that faith.   Paul writes, "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express...and the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's  Will."  God gives us His Holy Spirit so that we can understand, by the Spirit's guidance, what it really takes to be able to pray with boldness and persistence.

When one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus answered with the Lord's Prayer, a prayer that contains everything God wants us to ask for.  But Jesus did more than that.  He not only gave us an example of a prayer, He told us how to pray any prayer.  He told us to pray with the boldness that we need to really ask for an increase of faith.  He told us to pray with the persistence that comes out of faith so that we can receive the blessings of faith.  Jesus tells us we are knocking on God's door when we pray.  He will help us keep knocking as we pray.  He is the one who will help us to begin each day in prayer, end each day in prayer and live all our days in prayer.  Jesus will sustain us with the faith we need in prayer, until we receive the full promise of the love and mercy of God.  

Lord, make us bold in such a prayer!  In Jesus name, Amen.