I don’t suppose that it comes as any surprise to you that a minister would stand in a pulpit and affirm, "I believe in prayer." You would expect this affirmation. But, belief in prayer came normally and naturally for me as a child. Even before I can remember, I was taught to pray. The first prayer I was taught was the bedtime payer that almost all children learn. It is a simple little prayer which says:

Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake;
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

As I grew older, prayer was simply a natural part of my life. I was firmly convinced that prayer was important ... that prayer was real ... that prayer made a difference. And through all the years of my life, I have never had any reason to change that opinion.

When my children were old enough, my wife or I would read them bedtime stories. We read Mother Goose ... and Aesop’s Fables ... Bible stories ... and the Great Brain Series. We read the Hardy Boys ... and Nancy Drew mysteries. Finally, when the story was over for the evening, it was time for our bedtime prayers. We taught our children to pray because we believed in prayer.

I shall never forget the evening we had a special service at church. To close out the service, I simply invited those who desired to come down and kneel at the communion rail for a few moments of prayer. Many, many people got up from their pews and made their way to the front to kneel down and offer up their prayers. As I looked out at those who were kneeling in prayer, I noticed my own children kneeling at the altar. They had not been prodded by their mother and I had not told them to come. They came simply because they believed prayer was important; they came simply because they believed that prayer could make a difference; they came simply because they had some need in their lives that they wanted to talk over with God.

I would guess that today’s churches are full of people who believe in prayer. Because they believe in the value of prayer, they fully understand the request of the disciples who asked Jesus one day: "Lord, teach us to pray."

As far as the records go, this is the only thing that the disciples explicitly asked Jesus to teach them - how to pray. This seems a little strange because they had prayed all of their lives. However, when they began following Jesus, they saw what prayer meant to him. The Gospel of Luke describes the scene this way:

It came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, that when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.

Evidently, they had been observing what prayer meant in his life. He went into prayer in one mood and came out in another. Praying for Jesus was not just a form, but a force, a power. Prayer was vital and influential in his life and they wanted him to tell them how to pray.

Watching Jesus awakened their belief in prayer. As they watched his personality grow stronger, they began to see that prayer was more than just begging God for the things they desired. Apparently, their prayers had been limited to asking God to give them this or give them that. But, now they saw how prayer influenced his life and they asked him to teach them this art of praying.

Today, as we look at the idea of prayer, I want to stress some important points about prayer.

I. Prayer is a powerful force. Prayer is a powerful force that is available to us. Ages ago Isaiah affirmed this as a fact when he said:

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ...

And centuries later we still know that prayer is the most powerful form of energy that one can generate because prayer is what links us to God.

There are many reasons why people pray. Sometimes we treat prayer almost as if it were magical. We try to manipulate God to get him to do what we want done.

A mother sent her fifth grade boy up to bed. In a few minutes she went to make sure that he was getting in bed. When she stuck her head into his room, she saw that he was kneeling beside his bed in prayer. Pausing to listen to his prayers, she heard her son praying over and over again. "Let it be Tokyo! Please dear God, let it be Tokyo!"

When he finished his prayers, she asked him, "What did you mean, ‘Let it be Tokyo’?"

"Oh," the boy said with embarrassment, "we had our geography exam today and I was praying that God would make Tokyo the capital of France."

Prayer is not a magical means by which we get God to do what we want. Prayer is an inner openness to God which allows his divine power to be released in us. Ultimately, the power of prayer is not that we succeed in changing God, but that God succeeds in changing us.

I called for some time on a young man who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS. I suppose that this is one of the most debilitating illnesses known. Over a period of time, all of the muscles of the body become useless. But, the mind remains clear and sharp - trapped in a body that cannot move.

Of course, this man reacted the way you or I would expect. He was bitter and angry at what was happening to him. When he did pray, his prayers were questions that asked, "Why me, God? Why is this happening to me?"

Once, when I called on him, he cursed me ... He cursed God ... He cursed his illness. And who could blame him? He could no longer care for himself. He could no longer sit up without assistance. He required a plastic tube of oxygen attached to his nostrils just to breathe.

After he finished his angry tirade about what had happened to him, he was embarrassed and he apologized. I looked at him and told him, "Don’t worry! You didn’t shock me or God."

A serious look crossed his face and he said, "I’ve tried to pray. I’ve asked God to cure me, but I keep getting worse."

"Perhaps," I said, "you are praying the wrong prayer. The promise of God is not that he will magically remove our problems but that he will give us strength in the midst of our problems. Why don’t you start praying for strength to deal with your illness and strength to enjoy the life you have?"

I would be lying if I said the change was immediate. But, gradually a change took place. The bitterness and anger he felt gave way to acceptance. But, the surprise was that he saw an avenue of ministry. With a pencil between his teeth, he began typing out notes to people who were going through problems. They were not long, just short, simple notes telling others that someone was thinking about them and praying for them. Shortly before his illness claimed his life, he told one of the members of his family, "I have enjoyed my life to the end."

Prayer is a powerful force. The power of prayer is not in changing God, but in changing us from unhappy individuals to happy ones, in changing bad men and women to good men and women, in changing the cruel into the kind. If we make a place for prayer in our lives, we will be amazed at the power and strength which is released in our lives.

II. Prayer brings comfort. I like the old story of a minister who went camping up in the mountains. He was enjoying the hiking through the mountain trails until the day he found himself face to face with the biggest ... ugliest ... meanest ... grizzly bear he had ever seen. He saw no means of escape and the bear was coming toward him growling. The minister did the only thing he knew to do. He dropped to his knees, closed his eyes, and began to pray. The longer he prayed, the better he felt. The bear had not attacked. So, the minister opened his eyes to see where the bear was and the bear was kneeling right in front of him. The minister was overjoyed and said, "O, Brother Bear, this is wonderful. It is a comfort to my soul to know that we are praying to the same Lord."

The bear opened his eyes, looked at the preacher, and said, "Brother, your comfort is going to be short-lived because I’m saying grace."

There are many different reasons to pray, but one of the most valid reasons is to find comfort and peace. George Buttrick said, "prayer is as elemental as a cry in the dark." When we cry out in the dark, we are searching for some comfort ... some peace ... some hope ... in the midst of the problems of life. Real prayer is calling out to God in the midst of the pain and hurt - looking for some comfort.

In ordinary life, we run into those occasions when we are up against something which is too much for us, or we undertake something which is too hard for us. It is moments like this when we cry out in the darkness. It is moments like this when we lift our hearts and souls to God hoping to discover some comfort and peace - And our hope is not disappointed! "God is our refuge and strength in a time of trouble." When we pray to God in a time of need, we discover his strength and his comfort and his peace.

I know a woman who was left a widow at a rather young age. She was not only grieving at the loss of the man she loved; she was also grieving at the responsibility of raising two small girls alone. She was frightened for herself and she was afraid she would have to give the children up.

One day, the despair was so overwhelming that she walked three blocks to the Methodist Church. The door was unlocked and she slipped inside and sat in the back pew. As the sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows, she cried out her fears to God. "How was she to raise two girls alone?" There were no day care centers in those days and she wondered what would become of the girls if she took a job?

As she sat in that church that day, she heard no voice from the heavens. But, for some reason, her fears were relieved. And as she sat there, an idea began to take shape in her mind. She would support her family by giving piano lessons in her home.

So, by giving piano lessons to as many as eighty children a week (two of them were my children), and by carefully managing her money, she raised her two children and sent them to college. She died a couple of years ago at 94 years of age. About thirty minutes after her last piano lesson of the day, a sudden heart attack claimed her life.

She was an ordinary lady, who made an extra-ordinary discovery. She discovered a comfort, she discovered a peace, she discovered a strength, when she cried out to God from the darkness of her soul.

III. Prayer affirms that we are not alone. Prayer affirms the fact that even when we are alone, we are not alone. This is one of the most profound and mysterious facts in human life - the consciousness that being alone, we are not alone. We may see in the Garden of Gethsemane a picture of a universal human experience. Jesus left the world outside the garden gate. Jesus left the major group of his disciples at the Garden gate. Jesus left his three closest friends within the Garden gate. And then in solitude he went out under the olive trees. But, there, alone, he was not alone.

Explain that experience as we will, it cannot be explained away. Elijah, amid the loneliness of the desert, heard the still small voice. Even when we are alone, we are not alone. This is a fact of human experience which cannot be explained away.

I believe in prayer because it affirms that no matter how lonely we are, there is still one to whom we can turn. God is that One who does not leave us alone.

Do you remember the old story in the book of Daniel about the three Israelites cast into the fiery furnace? According to the story, they walked through the fiery furnace without being burned. They walked through the fiery furnace without their clothes being singed. They walked through the fiery furnace with One who was like unto the Son of God.

Who of us here does not need that experience? There is no fiery furnace so hot that there is not One who walks with us ... One who does not leave us alone ... One who is a divine companion, from everlasting to everlasting, a God who loves you and me!