Strong church ministry is supported, and in a sense, you can say dependent on the members of the church praying. Sometimes I've had the impression that other Christians think that in our Reformed circles, maybe Presbyterian circles too, but in our reformed circles, we don't esteem and emphasize the ministry of prayer very much. That, in other words, among other evangelical friends, maybe from the Catholic side, that they are more serious, intentional about prayer. That's unfortunate. It may be true on the local level that we haven't always in our churches emphasized the ministry of prayer, the importance of prayer, but in our Reformed tradition since the time of the Reformation, theologians in their works, particularly in the systematic theology area. Luther was one of them, but in the reformed side of things, John Calvin, he devoted a He devoted about 29 paragraphs within his topic of prayer to prayer. So in other words, what I'm saying is that comparatively speaking, Calvin in his institutes devoted a larger portion of attention to the subject of prayer. And then further on in the tradition of theologians, these names you may never have heard of, but on the Dutch side, you have Kokeus, Woetsius, you have Brakel, Wilhelm Brakel, Witsius, and then on the English side, you have, of course, the Puritans, and many, if not all of them, understood the importance of prayer. So if we in practice don't pray very much as Reformed Christians, shame on us, because that is not what we were taught by our forefathers. The Bible itself tells us, the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5, we are called to do a number of things, and one of those phrases is to pray without ceasing. Is there a lack of enthusiasm for prayer? Prayer is hard work. It's maybe not hard work, but it is just not the type of ministry that gets the attention. Prayer is often private. If we have others that pray together with us, it's very humble, it's very plain, there's no excitement about it, no entertainment about that. It's a time that we take time when our time is often very little and precious. And we are praying to a God we don't see. We don't often immediately see the result of our prayers. And so it is maybe an explanation why Christians, in whatever tradition I suppose we can conclude, haven't always given prayer the importance that it deserves. When we look at the life of Christ, reading, my wife and I reading through the Gospel of Luke right now in our evening devotions. There is a phrase early on where it says that Jesus withdrew frequently to be by himself to pray. My first point, prayer is necessary. Prayer is your oxygen. Without prayer, you cannot grow. We've all seen the plants that are wilting, and if they're not dead yet, they are susceptible to recovery. If you give them water, they will flourish again. Same in our Christian life. If there's not much vitality to our faith, vibrancy, excitement, enthusiasm, And don't think that I'm talking to you. I'm not talking down to you right now. I'm talking to myself, just the same. If some of that is lacking, is missing, it's very possible that prayer does not have the place in our lives that it ought to have. Because if prayer takes a vital place in our day-to-day living, It is a guarantee that your faith is more dynamic, more energetic, more deep, rich. Because what is prayer? In prayer, we're not just going through a motion, a mental exercise. In prayer, we bring ourselves as God's beloved children to his throne of grace. When we address our Heavenly Father, it is as if we are literally coming into his presence and we are filled with an awareness of how holy he is and how we lack that holiness. We are aware of his love for us that is often so lacking in ourselves for him. We are aware of his word, words of life, And they have set us free so that when we pray, it brings about an awareness that this is something very unusual in a way, you could say. It is special. It is extraordinary that the king of kings and lord of lords would have anything to do with us. But he does. Prayer is necessary because it is the one special way that God uses in your life to grow your faith. Because what happens if you don't pray? Maybe in a few moments when we have a little bit of discussion we can talk about that as well. But what happens typically in my life, your life, when there is not much prayer? I'm not just talking about an evening meal prayer, however appropriate that is, but I'm talking taking time to intentionally, deliberately, thoughtfully reflect and bring our burdens, our desires, our joys, our sorrows of ourselves, of our family members, of our brothers and sisters in the church and around the world to God's attention. If that isn't there, Well, I would say that it's probably true of you what is true of me, that if there is not much prayer going on, that my heart's focus, the eyes of my heart are taken, are moved away from God, from his kingdom, from his mission to other things. It could be my worries, it could be my frustrations, it could be my ambitions, They could be desires, whether good or bad, but they are away from the Lord and on other things, and on me. So prayer is necessary, because in prayer I am directing my attention back at least ideally speaking, back to where it should be, and that is the Lord. So prayer is necessary because without prayer, you are depriving yourself of the, like I said, the oxygen that you need to breathe in the Holy Spirit. And that's why the Lord Jesus, the prayer that he gave us, we'll look in a moment at the content part of that, but in the prayer, just on the cursory level, we can say that the Lord's prayer, Jesus' prayer taught his disciples, begins with the focus that is on God, on his kingdom. I know that we live in a world that is hurting, There are all the thousands of people who are seeking places like the rescue mission. Those are people that you say, well, those poor guys, they don't have much, and they don't. But we can also drive through the nicely, I don't know so much about Colorado now, manicured front lawns, Manicured? Some are, some are not. Ours is not. And will not be manicured for a long time, I think. But you can go through the nice neighborhoods, and you see all the nice houses, and everything looks perfect. And what happens inside those houses? There's a Dutch saying that says, Every house has its own cross. You can have everything in the driveway, and you can have everything look nice and perfect, but every house, every family, every group of people together in some fashion experience the brokenness of life in this world. So whether it's the homeless person begging for a handout, everybody needs to realize that they must pray. They must worship through prayer the God who made us. In his image, he created us. Prayer is important because it lifts up our eyes to the Lord of heaven, and that's where our attention needs to be much more. than it currently is in my life, and I would think in many of God's people around the world as well, and perhaps that's true of you too. Prayer is necessary because God designed it, God prescribed it, and who are we to ignore his instructions? Who are we to say that we can do without that? We have our jobs, we have our income. Everything seems to work pretty well and routinely. But it is God who is the giver of all these gifts. Nothing that we have is what we have apart from the hand that extended it to us. And so through prayer we show our dependence on the Lord. And it would be pride to suggest that God is going to be fairly happy with us when we thank him for the food at the dinner table and then not much else. I feel that in my life, I don't try to be dramatic here or theatrical or whatever, but when it comes to prayer, that God gets the crumbs. The intention. The language of the catechism in 117 is quite deep, I think. What is the kind of prayer that pleases God and that he listens to? First, we must pray from the heart. to know other than the one true God revealed to us in his word, asking for everything God has commanded us to ask for. Second, we must fully recognize our need and misery so that we humble ourselves in God's presence, majestic presence. And third, we must rest on this unshakable foundation. Even though we do not deserve it, God will surely listen to our prayer because of Christ our Lord. That is what he promises in his word. What's the intent? Why do you pray, in other words? What motivates us to pray? What's the intention behind our prayers? Is it genuine? or because we need God to give us something that we think we need. And so we turn to God as if he were some kind of inanimate object, as if he were some kind of coin-operated candy machine. And you put your prayer coin into it and out pops the answer. God doesn't work that way. I feel that a lot of prosperity gospel ministries, and I don't want to always point a finger that way because there's many other fingers that can point our own way, but that is an example that comes to mind where I feel that it's almost a demanding of God to give us what we claim he wants us to have. I just don't recognize the spirit, the ethos, the habitus that is the Christians in the presence of God in that type of confrontational demanding that I see. Do I pray? Because I love God. Is my prayer an expression, intentional expression of my thankfulness? This is why the authors placed this instruction about the prayer in the final third part of the catechism, the part of thankfulness. Right after the law, the Ten Commandments, prayer. Do I pray because I love him? Do I pray because I have a spirit in my heart welling up of thankfulness and gratitude? Lord, you have been so good to me. I think of Brenda's cousin, Debbie. We know them a little bit. They live in a beautiful house, beautiful place. And suddenly, God's providence interrupts, dramatically interrupts their lives. These are very nice people, godly people, but there's gonna be a tough road ahead for them if she doesn't recover well. Do we pray, do they pray now too because they love God? or when something like that happens in your or my life. Is it thankfulness that prompts my prayer? Always. It's not dependent on my condition, my circumstance. But I've been set free from sin. I'm bound for heaven. I've been given eternal gift that I don't deserve. Lord, you can bring into my life anything you wish. and it will always be according to your good and perfect pleasure. And if that is true, I can pray. I can pray when things go well, I can pray when things go not so well. And I know that my heavenly father knows me, loves me, and I can love him in return. But it requires a knowing God. A living, vibrant, meaningful prayer life requires that I come into the presence of God daily. It cannot be that I just stop by. You know, maybe an illustration would be, maybe not the nicest one, but, you know, Joey leaves home and, you know, he wants to be on his own and he finds an apartment in town and he comes home when he has a need for it. And not so much, you know, to be with mom and dad or, you know, have a wonderful fellowship, but he needs something. Is that sometimes true of us? We stop by God's house because we need something from him. The better way would be that I stop by the house to give him something. My heart, my life, my everything. So I pray that my prayer life will grow deeper, stronger, and yours as well, because let me tell you, when we pray, when our church prays, God, being in our midst, will reciprocate, and he will bless and he will bless in every way he pleases. And sometimes a hardship can be a blessing too. Prayer works. I brought with me, I've mentioned this magazine before, Voice of the Martyrs. Please get this magazine. It's free, I think. We always receive two copies, so you can always bring an extra copy, but take it home with you. Here's a brother, Ibrahim, Somali Christian, perseveres through persecution to plant 23 churches. If you read the story of what he went through, it's just amazing. Another young man converted from Islam faith to Christian faith. He was shot dead. And then there's a prayer here, I believe by his late wife, by his wife. Mighty God, remove the scales from the eyes of those blinded by the lies of Islam. Help Somali Muslims around the world see that you are the one true God. Draw them to yourself through faith in your son, Jesus Christ, satisfying the emptiness in their lives. As my Somali Christian family members experience rejection, harassment, and beatings, give them the ability to endure all things for your glory. Though they are opposed and persecuted, I praise you that they are not defeated. Today, I boldly join your mission like never before. I too am willing to lose my life for your sake. In this insert, in this magazine, there are things that I encourage us to get. There is the cloth prayer banner. I don't have it, but it's a cloth prayer banner. And it shows you the world, and particularly the countries in the world where the persecution is the severest. And there's also a prayer map poster that I think does just the same thing. One of the things that I hope is that when we learn to pray personally as a congregation, that we have a ministry at Covenant Church that is prayer saturated. that we then also have intercession for our fellow brothers and sisters around the world. And we do that already, right? But we can do more. So finally, the content, and the content is the Lord's Prayer. And I don't need to say that much about it anymore. The Lord's Prayer is the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. It is the prayer that has a focus on God and His glory, His kingdom. And from that dimension or direction, the focus is then towards us. And we are called by the Lord. And the catechism question is reflecting that we can pray the Lord for anything we need if we can pray and when we pray in Jesus' name. Of course, the difference between need and want is one to keep in mind. But the Lord hears the prayers of his children. The Lord answers prayer, not because of us, but because of him. Amen. Do any of you have a comment or a question? If not, then we'll close in prayer. And then we'll sing 560. Father in heaven, we thank you for prayer. Lord, encourage us. Encourage us to pray, to see it as a privilege, as a wonderful time well spent in your presence, to rejoice in you, to thank you, to glorify you, to worship you. and then to also bring to you our concerns and our prayers, our petitions. As we can intercede on our own behalf, we also intercede on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the church, around the world, our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues. We pray, Father, that through the prayer ministry of your people globally, your kingdom will also continue to come. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.