GETTING HELP IN PRAYER

"If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

Luke 11:13

Let's suppose that someone actually takes this promise of Jesus to heart. They go into their room and shut the door and begin crying out to the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Nothing happens.

So they try again. "Father, pour out your Spirit upon me, so that I can really begin to pray!"

Still nothing.

"I'm asking, Father. I'm asking and asking and asking! How come everything is exactly as it was before? I don't feel anything. I don't see anything. I don't hear anything. And my prayers, Father, are as dull as ever. What's wrong? Where am I missing it?"

Perhaps we've all had a taste of this. It's frustrating when the harder we try to pray, the worse it gets. We say the words. We sigh. We repeat the Lord's prayer, and even that doesn't help. It's as though prayers rise up out of our hearts like lovely floating bubbles. They hang in the air for a few moments. Then, pop! They disappear, and nothing comes of it.

Then one day you're at the end of your rope. You're in trouble. You don't know which way to turn. You're weeping as you look out the window at the gray sky. Suddenly, from the depths of your heart comes a cry of agony. "Lord, help me! Help me!"

That cry goes straight to the headquarters of the universe. And from that moment things begin to change

We know the difference between prayer that's really prayer, and prayer that looks like prayer and sounds like prayer---but isn't. We know when we're praying, and when we're just "saying prayers." When it's real prayer, the Spirit of God is in there making it real. I'm getting help. When its me trying to be pious, it's just bubbles.

But do I have to be in a crisis, do I have to have my back to the wall, for the Spirit to come and help me to really pray? Is it always going to be bubbles, unless I'm at the end of my rope with some desperate need?

Here's a man who learned to pray when he was in a crisis. But this man also shows us how to pray when we're not in a crisis.

So (Jesus) came to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."

John 4:46-48

The man is desperate. But Jesus, instead of saying, "Sure, I'll come with you," as we'd expect him to, says, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." Doesn't Jesus care about this man? Can't he see how worried he is?

Yes, Jesus sees right into this man's broken heart---just as he sees into your heart and mine. Jesus knows what he's doing: he's bringing this man to the place where his prayer is really prayer. Teaching him to be persistent; to refuse to give up, no matter what he sees. No matter how things look. To hang in there!

The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" Jesus said to him, "Go, your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living.

John 4:49-51

The man cries out to Jesus in desperation. And what does Jesus give him? No signs. No wonders. Just a word: "Go, your son will live." And the man believes that word and goes his way. His prayer is answered. His son is healed.

This man is a perfect picture of how prayer works. First of all, the man put something into it. He traveled a good distance to get to Jesus. And when he got there, he refused to let Jesus discourage him. He was given no sign. He saw no miracle. All he had was that word: "Go, your son will live." The man took that word and went his way, and his prayer was answered.

Okay, you say, but that was a crisis. What about ordinary daily life, when there is no crisis? When each day is as dull as the day before. When life just goes on and on. Why doesn't the Spirit come and break the monotony and lift our prayer out of the bubble stage and make them real? Doesn't Jesus teach us to pray all the time, even when there is no crisis?

Indeed, Jesus tells us that we are "always to pray and not lose heart."

To pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.

To pray, "Thy kingdom come."

To pray for the people who give us a hard time.

Above all, to ask the Father to pour out his Spirit, so that we can pray with the kind of faith that father had when he was pleading for his son.

Let's return to the person who went into a room, shut the door, and prayed for the gift of the Holy Spirit……and nothing happened.

Did God let this person down? No, God didn't let this person down.

Didn't they pray hard enough? They prayed hard enough.

But when you ask the Father to flood you with his Spirit, you then have to do what the man from Capernaum did. He believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.

So now you believe the word which Jesus has spoken to you and go your way. Which means you keep on praying. You asked for the Holy Spirit. You will get the Holy Spirit. But not by sitting in a chair waiting for bells to ring. You will receive as you pray. The Spirit comes, not while you're standing there waiting for the lights to start flashing, but as you pray. Just keep praying. Even if it's only bubbles. Even if it seems totally dry. Do it anyway. The Spirit of God helps you to pray as you pray. You can't steer a bicycle if it isn't moving. The Spirit of God cannot inspire your prayers unless you're praying.

When Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water, and as he was praying the Spirit descended on him. At Paul's conversion a man named Ananias was told to go to a street called Straight and inquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, "for behold he is praying." Ananias was instructed to lay his hands on Paul, so that he could receive the Holy Spirit. Ananias arrived at the house, entered, and found Paul at prayer. The cry of Paul's heart was answered as he was praying.

Years later, Paul, this spiritual giant, this man of prayer writes:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

Romans 9:26

The Spirit helps us in our weakness….

The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words…

as we pray!

The Spirit can only help us to pray when we're actually doing it. So just start sending up the bubbles, and keep at it. And now, without any bells ringing or lights flashing, the Holy Spirit comes to your aid and begins working in you with power. Don't wait for signs and wonders. Just do it.

Pray the Lord's prayer.

Pray your favorite psalm.

Pray for your loved ones.

Pray for your sisters and brothers in the Body of Christ.

Pray for your servant leaders in the Body

Pray for your neighbors.

Pray rich blessings upon the people who give you a hard time.

And when anyone asks you to pray for them, make sure that you do it faithfully. Even if you feel inadequate. They asked you, trusting that you would. You have no choice but to be faithful to their trust, remembering that your only claim on God is the Lamb's blood---not your "worthiness." Just do it. The Holy Spirit will move in your prayers in amazing ways. He will spread his light out through your whole life with transforming power.

Don't wait for signs and wonders.

Don’t wait for the bells to ring.

Just pray and keep praying.

And the Spirit of God will baptize your payers---and you---with power from on high.