part 1 of “Talking To Jesus”
Last week I introduced my word of the year - the word is understanding and is based on two verses found in Jeremiah 33…
“’This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’” - Jeremiah 33:2-3 MSG
You can find out more about the word and why I chose it at the link below [1]. But one of the things I mention in the podcast episode is understanding how to pray. The series that we are starting today was on the calendar for a few months ago. The idea was that sometimes we can make prayer complicated and the series was going to be going to be how to make prayer uncomplicated. We can make prayer uncomplicated when we have a better understanding of what prayer is. God is amazing. I love it when He does stuff like this. I am doing this series when He wanted me to. It didn’t fit back in September. God knew that it was going to fit better in January. So here were are. Let’s see if we can gain a better understanding of prayer so we can pray uncomplicated.
As I also said last week, God teaches me through these series as well. I believe that to be true for all teachers and pastors. I believe that God teaches them through studying things that they struggle with. I know that is true for me. I have always told the kids that I volunteer with at my church that just because I’m up here teaching on patience doesn’t mean that I have aced the patience test. God teaches me while I’m preparing to teach them. Some of the best things I’ve ever taught have come from me learning the same thing that I’m teaching. I say that to say this… prayer can be a weak point for me. I don’t always talk to Jesus. So I am ready to dive into this series and learn right along with you.
This week we are looking at Who we pray to and who to pray for. The answer to these two thoughts is found in two different places in the Bible. First, Who we pray to can be found in Matthew 6:
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,’” - Matthew 6:9 NIV
This is a simple answer. We are praying to our Father in Heaven. Our Father who hears was when we call to Him (Jeremiah 33:2-3). God has an attentive ear to us all the time. He is never going to be caught off guard by our prayers to Him. God’s inbox doesn’t get full. God hears everything we say to Him [2]. Pray to God. He is always listening and wants to hear from us.
Now, who do we pray for? Well, we can find that in the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy. We are going to look at two verses to answer this question.
“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.” - 1 Timothy 2:1 NLT
There is a lot in this one verse. Let’s break it down.
1. PRAY FOR ALL PEOPLE
Paul tells us right there who to pray for - ALL PEOPLE. God wants us to pray for our husband, wife, kids, friends, co-workers, family, and any other “all people” category that I might have missed. Paul also tells us why we should “pray for all people”.
2. ASK GOD TO HELP THEM
When we pray for people we should ask God to help them. We should pray that God will help our family, kids, husband, wife, friends, and co-workers. We never know what any of the people on this list might be facing in their life. The things that they face that they don’t tell you about. And yes, that goes for spouses and kids. Everyone has stuff that they just choose to deal with on their own and never tell you about them. They just hope to make it through the day. So it is a big thing to pray that God helps them through their day.
3. THANK GOD FOR THEM
When we pray, we should thank God for all the people in our lives. We should thank God for our husband, wife, kids, family, co-workers, and friends. Even if the kids won’t listen - thank God for them. Even when co-workers rub you the wrong way - thank God for them. Even when you don’t agree with your spouse - thank God for them. Even when you may be at odds with some of your family - thank God for them. Even when your best friend hurt you - thank God for them. Thank God for the people that He has blessed us with. They are in our lives for a reason and we should be thankful for them.
Now, this next verse gets a little tricky. It’s a hard one.
“Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” - 1 Timothy 2:2 NLT
The verse starts with the words “pray this way”. Paul is telling us to look back at the previous verse and pray for kings and those in authority. So Paul is telling us to pray for pastors, bosses, police, firefighters, the military, and even those in our government. There are probably other authority figures that I might have missed and that is not intentional. Fill in with the ones that I might have missed.
We should pray that God helps them and their families. I don’t have anyone in my family that is a policeman or in the active military, but for those that do it must be hard for those families. They need us to pray for them. They need God’s help.
We should also pray for those in our government, no matter what we might think of them or the job they are doing. They need God’s help.
Also, Paul says to pray for kings. When Paul wrote this letter most people were under kings. So when we read this verse today, Paul is talking praying for our president. I know that might be unpopular in this season. But no matter what you think of him, he needs our prayers too. He needs God's help.
Then in the remaining part of the verse, Paul gives us the reason to pray those in authority and our president… “so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity” [3].
Just imagine what change could come to the nation if we prayed hard for those in our government. Can you imagine a situation like Paul is describing here? But Paul is telling us that prayer has that kind of power. I mean, after all, we are praying to the most powerful person ever - God Almighty. God has said that He would heal our land if we would humble ourselves, PRAY, and seek His face [4]. God can do anything.
One final “who” you can pray for. The “who” is you! You fall into the “all people” Paul was talking about. You also need God’s help. You are important to God. You need to pray for yourself.
So, now that we have a better idea of Who we pray to and who we can pray for. (By the way, this is by no means a complete list I am sure I left some “whos” out. Fill them in). It can be difficult to know what to pray for when we pray for those people. It can also be difficult to know what to pray for just in general. Paul gave us two “whats” in the verses we looked at in this post. Those are “ask God to help them (and you)” and “thank God for them.”
But what if you are just praying and not praying for any “who” in specific, what do you pray then? Well, we are going to dive into that more next week.
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[1] Understanding (WOTY 2022)
[2] Psalm 18:6
[3] 1 Timothy 2:2, NLT
[4] 2 Chronicles 7:14, NLT - also check out the series “7:14” at thepointoffocus.com to find out more on this verse.
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