It is said that one of President Reagan's favorite stories is the one about the minister's son who was taken out camping one day. His companion warned him not to stray too far from the campfire because the woods were full of wild beasts of all kinds. The young boy had every intention, really, of following that advice but inevitably he was drawn by curiosity and wandered farther and farther from the fire. Suddenly, he found himself face to face with a very large and powerful looking bear. He saw no means of escape, and seeing the bear advance rather menacingly towards him, the minister's son did what he had been taught to do. He knelt down to pray for deliverance. He closed his eyes tightly, but opened them a few moments later and was delighted to see that the bear was also kneeling in prayer right in front of him. He said, "Oh, bear, isn't wonderful! Here we are with such different view points and such different lives and such different perceptions of life and we're both praying to the same Lord." The bear said evenly, "Son, I don't know about you, but I'm saying grace."
There are many different uses of prayer. We are beginning today a twopart "miniseries" as they are fond of calling them on televisionon prayer. Today we will consider the importance of taking time for prayer. Next week we will consider how we should go about the task of prayer.
John Sanford in his book THE KINGDOM WITHIN, tells about a well at a farm house where his family spent their summers. Though the well had been a good one they discontinued using it when a community water system was installed. Some years later someone decided to draw some water from the old well. Much to their surprise they discovered that it was dry. That seemed puzzling. It had always provided them with plenty of water in the past. Why after years of disuse should it be dry? The answer they discovered was that the well had been fed by hundreds of tiny rivulets. When water was drawn out of the well, it was refilled by water flowing through those tiny openings. After years of disuse, however, the tiny rivulets had become stopped up. The well had dried up not because there was no water but because the well had fallen into disuse.
Obviously there is a parallel here to the devotional life of a Christian. When we fall out of habit of daily communication with God, there is a clogging of the channel ways, as it were. The distressing thing is that this clogging of the spiritual arteries is happening to more and more Christians. We are not the praying people we once wereand the effect of that neglect can be seen in our homes, in our community and in our church.
I know what many of you are thinking: Where can I find the time? Many of you sympathize with poor Martha frantically hurrying about the house, serving the food, making certain that all of the guests are comfortable, while her sister Mary sits spellbound at the feet of Jesus. "Lord, don't you care," says Martha to Jesus, "That my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell here to come help me." Many of us can sympathize with poor Martha. There is simply too much to do. The female members of our congregation can certainly sympathize with her. There has been a radical change in our society, as you know. Most women today work outside the home. Some do so out of necessity. Some do so out of choice. Surveys tell us, however, that traditional expectations of wives and mothers in terms of their responsibilities in the home have not changed very much. So, many women are, in effect, working at two fulltime jobsat work and at home. They sympathize with Martha. "There is not time!"
One author suggested years ago that this was one reason women have always valued worship. It was the one hour of the week when no demands were being made on them. Many women, however, would protest that now there is not even time for worship.
Please bear with me this morning as I suggest to you that we must find time for prayer. Nothing in our lives is quite so vital. IN THE FIRST PLACE, PRAYER IS THE MOST POTENT POWER SOURCE AVAILABLE TO US. Evelyn Christenson, in her book WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WOMEN PRAY (Wheaton IL: Victor Books 1981) compares her living life without prayer to vacuuming a whole room and not having the vacuum cleaner plugged into the wall socket. She writes, "We work, we pull, we struggle, we plan until we are utterly exhausted, but we forget to plug into the source of our power." You will remember that Martin Luther said that when his day was packed with appointments and other duties, he found it necessary to spend an EXTRA hour in prayer. It is when our lives are a whirlwind of activity that we most need to take time out to commune with God. "Ten minutes spent in Christ's presence every day," wrote Henry Drummond, one of the world's premiere scholars and intellects, "aye, two minutes, will make the whole day different." Bishop Wescott put it this way, "Prayer is opening up the sluicegates to the mighty ocean of God."
One reason for this is that most fatigue is primarily mental. In 1863, as the Civil War raged and the end of the fighting was far in the future, Abraham Lincoln was returning from a horseback ride with his friend and aide Noah Brooks. Brooks, noticing the president's obvious fatigue, suggested that Lincoln take a brief rest when they got back to the White HOuse. Lincoln replied, "Rest. I don't know about 'the rest' as you call it. I suppose it's good for the body, but the tired part of me is inside and out of reach." (1)
That is true of all of us. The really tired part is on the inside. That is the first reason why we must take time to pray. Prayer is the most potent power source available to us.
IN THE SECOND PLACE, PRAYER ALLOWS US TO GET OUT PRIORITIES IN ORDER. When Charles Schwab was president of Bethlehem Steel, he granted an interview with a management consultant named Ivy Lee. Lee told Schwab that his consulting firm could help Schwab's company get more done. Schwab said, "If you can do that, I'll be glad to listen to you and if it works, I will pay you whatever you ask within reason." Ivy Lee said, "All right, I will give you a method right now that will increase your efficiency by 50 percent. He handed Schwab a sheet of paper and told him to list the most important things he had to do the next day. "Now number them in the order of their true importance," Lee said. Schwab did as he was instructed. "Tomorrow morning," Lee suggested, "you begin with number 1 on your list. After it is taken care of completely, move on to number 2 and complete it. Don't worry if you do not get all the way through the list. At least you will have completed the most important tasks. "Do this every working day. After you have convinced yourself of this system, have your employees try it. Try it as long as you like and then send me your check for whatever you think this idea is worth." In a few weeks Charles Schwab sent Ivy Lee a check for $25,000. (2)
Can you see how helpful it might be to you to spend a few moments each day alone with God going over the day's demands and asking the question, "What is it that I need to do today that is really of utmost importance?" Do you see the practical value in what I am saying? I hope so. I encounter so many people who are so fatigued and so frustrated, and the problem is right herewe have neglected our power source and our priorities are out of order.
But there is something more to be said. PRAYER GIVES US THE INNER RESOURCES FOR DEALING WITH PROBLEMS THAT REFUSE TO GO AWAY. This is to say that prayer is not only the key to energy but also to endurance. There is a popular story going around right now about a little girl who was asked what she would pray for if suddenly she were to become blind. Her answer was, "I would pray for a nice seeingeye dog." The punch line to the story is a question. Why pray for a seeingeye dog when you might pray for your vision to be restored? It makes a nice story, but it evades a more important issue. There are thousands of people who do pray for their sight daily, but they are forced to settle for a seeing-eye dog. How do we endure when the problems do not magically disappear? The answer for many, many people is prayer.
In his book, THE POSITIVE POWER OF JESUS CHRIST, Norman Vincent Peale tells about an old cowboy-a deeply devoted and righteous manwho shared his faith and wisdom one day with a friend of Peale's. The friend asked, "Jim, what did you learn in all your years on the plains herding cattle?" Jim thought for a moment and answered, "I learned to have great respect for the Hereford cattle. On the great plains there are violent snowstorms when the temperatures plunge below zero and the snow is driven by high winds. Most cattle would drift downwind and at a fence they would pile up and many would die. But it wasn't that way with the Hereford cattle. They wouldn't drift downwind. Instead, they forced themselves upwind and when they came to a fence or some other barrier they would huddle together, shoulder to shoulder; they would put their heads down and wait out the wind. And very few died from the elements.
"So," said the old cowboy, "I have learned that if you put your trust and faith in Almighty God, and walk every day with Jesus, and stand up to your difficulties when they come along, they will break on you and you will not break under them." (3)
Dr. Peale goes on to say, "If you believe thisand it is logical and valid and the truthif you can believe this, no matter what, nothing is going to be impossible unto you."
You and I must take time to pray. Prayer is the key that unlocks the awesome power of God in our lives. Prayer helps us put our priorities in order. Prayer makes it possible for us to face up to our problems, to persevere until that day when God gives us victory over them. You don't have time to pray? Think again. As busy as our lives are nowadays, who can afford not to pray?
1 Carl Sandburg, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE WAR YEARS, 4 Vol.
2 As told by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones in LIFE IS TREMENDOUS (Wheaton, IL: Living Books, 1982).
3 (Wheaton,IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1980).