Hi, my name is Dave Scherrer and I’m the founder of One Hundred-Fold Ministries.

You have found our podcast that we call Kingdom Offerings and we are halfway through a series where we are taking a hard look deep into our lives and imagining what would it take to become even more effective heavenly kingdom citizens while not waiting for heaven? More effective kingdom citizens right now here on earth?

We’re talking about the traditional disciplines or the habits of the faith that when they are employed with constancy, which I guess is why they call them disciplines, they draw us into the kingdom of God. They keep us connected to God. And conversely, when we find ourselves increasingly discontent with things of the world, we will find ourselves more at home in the throne room of Jesus.

The last time we were together, we were looking at the discipline of prayer, and we found it to be a mysterious and simply difficult exercise. It’s totally human, I think, to want to talk about our desires, our struggles, hoping that someone, anyone somewhere, will care enough to listen to us. That someone would then understand the trials we’re going through, the victories we’re experiencing.

Most people we come into contact with, it seems to me, they want to tell their story, not necessarily listen to mine. The human condition includes this longing to be understood, to be known deeply, and to then be accepted anyway. And here is God – 24 hour, seven day, 365 days out of a year listening ear.

And He longs to hear our thoughts. And yet, we struggle to approach Him. So what’s up with that? And He brings not only a listening error, but He also longs to comfort us and challenge us and teach us. He longs to warn us and strengthen us with His promises.

In our last podcast, I noted that C.S. Lewis said about prayer:

“I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.”

So that makes me wonder if we are making it all too hard. So for the rest of this time together today, let’s see if we can slow it down a bit. So here are some principles that I think will help us set time aside for listening to God and pouring our hearts out to God.

Let’s target just three things today. First, I want you to know that your prayers are important to God. It is an act of worship to engage in conversation with God. It’s not just about you. In fact, it’s mostly about God. And do you know how I know that? It says so in the Bible. We see it when Jesus first teaches us to pray, the Lord’s prayer, right?

He rightly begins with honor and adoration for the Father and invites the Father and His kingdom into our conversation. He says, “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I really feel like this one verse alone is a lofty and worthy prayer. This tiny sentence alone fills the courts of heaven with its glory.

But if we read a little further, we go to Revelation chapter 5, we read about the prayers being eternally before the throne room. Our prayers are eternally before the throne room. The story that’s found in Revelation 5 is one that you should read in full, but the gist of it is that heaven is looking for someone worthy enough to open the scrolls of God, and they can’t find anyone until the Lamb of God who was slain steps forward as the worthy one.

And we read in verse 7, “He, that lamb who was slain, he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”

They were holding the golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. All of this, I think, should encourage us to linger in prayer. There are no small prayers, no unheard prayers, no misunderstood prayers. Every groan of our Spirit, uttered in the midst of trial, is stored in those bowls where the prayer becomes an incense offering of praise. It’s forever present before the Father, all your prayers. You may have forgotten them. The Father has not.

So pray away, knowing that you are laying aside treasures in heaven when you do. And we learn that in some mysterious way. God does inhabit our prayers. We read that in Psalm 22. All right, your prayers are very important. That should encourage us.

Second, I think we should take small steps that, what do they say? Use the path of least resistance, that make it easy starting out. I think if you began your discipline with an hour of prayer at six in the morning in a dark den somewhere in the basement, that’s not going to be a recipe for constancy in my mind.

Like so many attempts at establishing a good new habit, like our New Year’s Eve resolutions, that comes to mind, at the start making very, what, doable, small steps that lead to success? That’s usually best.

So here’s some ideas.

Consider praying with someone, a spouse, a best friend by Zoom, a church group prayer. I found that praying in a group setting helps me concentrate and helps me stay in the discipline of prayer. You might consider writing down your prayers, a prayer journal, so that your mind doesn’t wander as you pray. I need that. You might read the famous prayers of the saints. I think if you just look up famous prayers of saints, you’d find dozens of saints from antiquity who have been leaving prayers for us to pray.

And finally, the other thing you might do if this helps you, if this is the kind of person you are, try listening to hymns or Christian music, songs that constitute a prayer, or they use scripture for lyrics. That would be another way of praying by singing. Generally speaking, I think it’s best if we go to a quiet place. A lot of friends I know go for a walk. I have a friend who prays while riding a bicycle. Being alone seems to help.

All right, so recognizing the value of prayer, recognizing that there are some things that I can do to help make prayer a little easier.

Third, imagine that prayer is a function of the supernatural, not merely the natural. We talked about that last week. You see, we need to imagine that it is God’s voice through the person of the Holy Spirit that’s reminding you of a verse when you pray or leading you in a conversation with a friend.

We need to imagine that it is Christ Himself that sits with you in your conversation with Him in prayer. And He says words of encouragement like, “Tell me more about that.” Or, “I imagine that feels,” and then pick a word, “amazing” or “dark, sad, surprised.” “I imagine that feels…” You know what? Counselors call that minimum encouragers, and they use phrases like that to keep you talking. Jesus calls that being interested in your story. He wants to hear more.

As I said the last time that we were together, the seeking of the triune God in your spirit is not a natural thing. God is bigger than nature, and that makes Him supernatural.

The first words of our prayer after a hearty acknowledgement of who it is that you’re addressing, like the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”, or “O God, my rock and firm foundation”. Letting God know that you know exactly who He is, then invite this supernatural being into your supernatural prayer. “O God, my Father, help your child hear you better with all my heart and my mind and my soul. I come to you now needing your help.”

By acknowledging who God is and seeking His help, that’s going to help us center our minds as we get started in praying. So let’s practice this kingdom discipline together. In the case of prayer, practice doesn’t make perfect, but it usually does make a friend.

This is Dave Scherrer from One Hundred-Fold Ministries and the God of our heavenly kingdom is offering you the blessings of prayer with no strings attached to encumber you.

Prayer is to be with a friend, that friend, Jesus. You see, God is for you.

Have a great week.