The Importance of Prayer

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2016 · 24 July 2016

What is one of the first things you learned how to do as a Christian? It was learning how to pray, right? Sure it is and rightly so since God wants this communication with us right from the start. Remember what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus where he met Jesus, he could not see and did not eat or drink for three days, but he learned to pray. And it remains a very important part of the Christian life no matter how old we become.

Jesus himself demonstrated the importance of prayer by the time and effort He took to withdraw from the crowds so He could be alone to pray. Can you say that you too demonstrate prayer’s importance in your life the same as Jesus did? Do you make prayer a priority, or is it often just an afterthought, a habit or a crutch for tough times? Well, let us learn together the importance of prayer from the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis.

Genesis 18:20-32, “And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” 22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?

“25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” 27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

“29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” 30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

Through our text this morning the Holy Spirit will not only teach us the necessity to pray but remind us how to pray. Let us use this thought as our theme: 1. Pray humbly; 2. Pray unselfishly; and 3. Pray boldly. Our sermon text describes what happened after the Lord came down with two of his angels disguised as travelers and dropped in on Abraham and Sarah. God stopped by to strengthen Sarah’s faith in the promise that she would have a son in her old age.

Often it is difficult for us to believe God in all that He has done and promises to do. There are so many implications of what has been said in Genesis that it is difficult for men to fathom the immensity of what God has done in creating the whole universe from nothing. We as humans find it difficult to believe that God who created the laws of nature, can overcome those laws anytime He wants to. And so when God said that Sarah in her old age was going to have a son, she laughed because she did not believe.

Look what God says about Himself in Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” There is absolutely nothing too hard for God, not only does the Bible show and prove that everything that has ever been prophesied has and will come true, the Bible itself is living and powerful.

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” So God looks at the intentions of your heart and He knows exactly what you need and how you can serve Him. And if you respond to His call, He will supply you everything you need to spread the gospel and to glorify Him.

Let us go back to the Genesis account. Once the visit was finished God and his two angels got up and started making their way to the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. You see there was another purpose for which God had come down to earth. God said to Abraham in Genesis 18:20-21, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know”.

Of course God did not actually need to go down to these cities to check out what was going on. Since God is everywhere and knows all things and can see all things, He was well aware of what the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were planning in their hearts. But by telling Abraham that he had come to investigate, God reminds us that even though He knows everything, He still wants us to learn more about Him. God is revealing Himself progressively first by the Law in the Old Testament but then through His Son in the New Testament.

So what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah that prompted God to come and judge? The answer is ‘grave sin.’ The people of these two cities were acting in a way that was totally contrary to God’s word. What were they doing? While we could point to the specific homosexual sins that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of, we should stress that in addition to their sins, it was also their attitude towards sin. They all were persistently sinning all the time.

The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah didn’t care that what they did was wrong. Such an attitude is called impenitence and can sometimes be found in our lives as well. You see it doesn’t matter whether you kill ten people, or just sass your parents, both sins are detestable in God’s eyes and if we don’t repent of either sin we would deserve to meet the same end that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah did.

Isn’t it amazing that God shared his plans with Abraham? That reminds us that we as Christians are so blessed because we have the Bible, where God shares Himself and His plans for us. From the Bible we Christians understand more of what is going to happen to the world now and in the end time and what we can expect after death. But most importantly that God loves us and wants to save us. God is not looking for us to have a religion but a personal relationship with Him. These are topics that those who don’t read the Bible will never know.

Having found out that God was planning on destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham began to intercede on behalf of the inhabitants of those cities. This is where we learn that Abraham loved those people and he showed that by his asking for God’s mercy for those that believed. And that we show love too when we pray intercessory prayers. Abraham knew that his nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom and he did not want him or his family wiped away with the wicked. Let us learn from Abraham’s love by his petitions to God.

The first thing we learn is that although God had just let Abraham in on God’s plan for Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham didn’t get cocky. Instead he approached God in humility. Abraham said in Genesis 18:27, “I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Abraham based his requests on mercy, not merit. He knew that the same sinful heart that beat in people of Sodom and Gomorrah beats in his own chest.

He recognized that it was only by God’s grace and patience that he had not been destroyed for the many times that he had failed to obey God and did not trust his promises. What we deserve is the same punishment that Sodom and Gomorrah. But the sacrifice of Jesus opened the door so that we are forgiven and can now pray directly to God with boldness. Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Abraham’s prayer is not just exemplary because it was humble; it was also unselfish. Instead of thinking of how he could judge these people, Abraham was concerned for his nephew and his family, and any other believers that might be in those cities. Therefore he prayed for God to spare both cities if there were 50 believers. Abraham wanted the people of those cities to experience the same grace he had experienced from God.

In the same way our prayers too should be unselfish which is another way of describing what love means. Love is what sets us apart from people who do not know God. Before God changed us, we were all selfish and egotistical and only thinking about ourselves. But because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, we learn to love. And that is expressed in Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The Apostle Paul said 1 Timothy 2:1-4, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

“Pray for everyone!” Paul says. Start with your family, the people in church, your co-workers, friends, and pray for your enemies too. The Bible says that by praying for others it will benefit you. Matthew 6:19-20 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Although Abraham approached God in humility and unselfishness he was also bold. Even though God had said that He was planning on destroying Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham boldly asked God to reconsider. Abraham knew that while God is just and must punish sin, He is also loving and patient with sinners. He therefore appealed to God’s mercy and patience so that the righteous could be spared.

The most amazing thing about this account is that God listened to Abraham’s prayer and agreed not to destroy the cities if he could find 50 believers in them. God knows exactly who is in those cities, and He knows the end from the beginning but He invites us to pray because He wants to test us to see how much we really care and love our fellow man.

Abraham was not only bold in what he asked for; he was bold in how many times he came to God with his petition. Six times, starting with 50 righteous people going all the way down to 10, Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus also encouraged his disciples and all of us to be persistent in our prayers. But remember and know that God’s timing is not like our timing, and yet He is never too late.

This of course doesn’t mean that God will always do what we want him to do just because we are persistent. We need to recognize that we don’t always know what is best for us, while God does. Did God answer Abraham’s prayer? No. He did end up destroying Sodom and Gomorrah because there were not even ten believers in either city but He did answer Abraham’s prayer by rescuing the believers, Lot and his daughters.

God gave Abraham more than he asked for. He not only allowed Lot and his daughters to escape with their life, He allowed them to escape with their faith. Had Lot and his family continued to live in Sodom they too could have eventually adopted the sinful life-style of the people around them and losing their love for God. To a certain degree those sinful attitudes had already rubbed off on Lot’s family.

As they were fleeing, Lot’s wife turned back to look at what she had left behind even though the angels had warned Lot’s family not to do that. Because of her disobedience, and because of her love for the things of this world, God turned her into a pillar of salt. So many of us do not realize that the things that you love in this world are fleeting and break down and do not give you real happiness and instead lead us to destruction.

Would Lot have also lost his faith had he remained in Sodom? The Bible says that the influence of others is very strong. The fact is that even though Lot was there for a long time, he did not influence people to come to God. And being apart from a body of believers is always full of danger. Because 1 Corinthians 12:21 says, “And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” We as believers need to stay connected with each other.

Therefore God not only gave Abraham more than he asked for, He showed that He knew what was best for the believers involved. Hey Christians, trust God and pray without ceasing. Not just because that’s what God has commanded you to do but because there are wonderful blessings connected with prayer.

Religion with all their rules is not what God is looking for. Look for example at the Pharisees in Judaism. Being in fellowship with God and having a personal relationship with Him is what God wants. Bring your requests to God in humility knowing that’s it’s only by his grace that you can come in His presence, but be bold knowing that God has promised to listen and to answer your prayers.

Pray lovingly for others knowing that God will answer our prayers in the way that it best for others and us. Don’t take prayer for granted just because it’s something you do all the time and you do it out of habit. Demonstrate its continued importance in your life as you learn to pray all the time! Amen. Let us pray.