Sermon Title: It’s Time To Pray
TEXT: PSALM 46:1-2 Translation: The Voice
1 God is our shelter and our strength. When troubles seem near, God is nearer, and He’s ready to help. So why run and hide?
2 No fear, no pacing, no biting fingernails. When the earth spins out of control, we are sure and fearless. When mountains crumble and the waters run wild, we are sure and fearless.
In this sermon the preacher seeks to remind the congregation of the power of prayer in times of suffering and disaster. Her sermon is very much inductive in its presentation. In this rendering Christians, in particular, are called to utilize the most effective weapon in our ecclesial arsenal. Please take a read and feel free to share your comments and thoughts with the preacher or via this post.
Not since the Spanish Flu invaded our nation has America had to deal with such a devastating pandemic. Although history records that times were difficult, somehow we made it through and continued our pursuit toward democracy. In more recent months we’ve literally watched the devastation of hurricanes, and tornadoes. We’ve watched a tsunami wreak havoc in just a few moments time. What’s worse is that many of us watched it from the comfort and safety of our homes. Yes, we even had the luxury of watching on the evening news – almost like it was a reality show.
But now it has hit home. We know this is real. The governor has shut everything down. No movies! No gyms! No malls! No restaurants? No life – nothing is normal. It’s praying time.
If you are like me and I believe you are you are wondering why. Why! One minute everything was fine and then things just seemed to spin out of control. I don’t know why, but I do know some things. This is what I know.
- We are Christians.
- We understand a man’s days are few and full of trouble.
- We know trouble doesn’t last always.
- We know the sun will come out tomorrow.
- We know God is always a very present help in times of trouble.
- We know It’s praying time.
So what are we to do in the mean time? Again we are Christians, when in trouble we pray, – when things are going well we pray -, when we are sick we pray,- when we are well we pray we pray. Paul reminds us all that we are to pray in season and out of season. We are called to be people of prayer. (Doesn’t your bible say my house shall be called a house of prayer) That’s not just talking about the church building, but it speaks about me and you. We are the temple that God lives in and we are the ones who should be praying. It’s praying time.
We know every crises just gives us an opportunity to draw close or closer to God.
See I just want to be in control when it seems everything is out of control. Back in Genesis God told Adam and Eve to go forth and dominate you know have dominion. Take control. One of the ways we take control is through prayer. There are so many times in scripture that Jesus prays and things happened. I am thinking now about the scripture where he tells the disciples this one comes out by prayer and fasting. Now that is the magical formula if there ever was one. There are some things that just cannot be accomplished, if we are not praying and fasting.
I remember a time in my life, when I would fast (liquid only) once a week. I would eat dinner and then not take any solid food until dinner time the next day. It worked for me, because I had my sleep time included. No milk shakes, no soda, no snacks. Maybe a healthy smoothie or something like that and it worked and I felt closer to God. I think I need to go back to fasting and praying.
We all need to figure out what works best for us. Sometimes it is fasting from one meal a day, or maybe refraining from eating for a portion of the day or just fasting from a favorite food. I am talking about determining what kind of fast works best for you.
The bible tells us greater things will we do. Maybe this is one of the greater things. We need to come together in prayer and command this pandemic to go back where it came from.
There are appropriate times to tell a mountain to move— a fig tree to dry up, or a sea to be quiet. We have to submit to God, seek his face, listen for his voice and then be obedient to what he is saying. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 includes one of my all time favorite scriptures. Notice the setting in verse 13. In times of crisis, do this! “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” I am not saying this has anything to do with our sins.
What I am saying is this is a good time to use this prayer formula. The scripture is saying when times are tight and you (Christian) don’t know what to do. Humble yourself and seek his face and pray. We really don’t need anything from God. We need his presence, his glory, his power to be here with us. All of us have areas we can do better in. Make a commitment, get a plan, and begin now. Then we can watch God move.
We need to petition God, we are the ones with the power, but are we using the power we have been given. We usually don’t have time. Now we have all the time we need to do everything we need and want to do. See I think that is the problem. Maybe, just maybe we don’t want to pray. We don’t believe in prayer, we don’t see the value in prayer. We don’t get it. Well, I have come to tell we never will if we don’t pray. Make an appointment with God and keep it. It’s praying time.
This pandemic is bringing out the best and the worst in all of us. We all are under some kind of new stress with the old stressors still not being resolved. Yet we have to go on. We have to continue. We still have things that have to get done. We know we are to pray in the will of God. We have to submit to God’s timing. Remember in Exodus 8 when God sent the plagues he allowed the plagues to strike his own people, as well as the Egyptians. We are often startled by this. We ask why would God allow His own people to be afflicted with polluted water, frogs, and lice? I think he was just getting their attention. He was preparing them to exit Egypt. He was disturbing their normal lives. This caused them to follow Moses to the promised land. Maybe, just maybe, if they hadn’t had the plagues they would not have left . Once all of this was done God did make a distinction as none of the other plagues touched them. God has always moved according to his own timing.
It is praying time, pray to understand, pray to be moved to a better place, pray for protection, pray to prosper in the things of God, pray to hear God’s voice, pray to be in the will of God, pray for release from our current situation, Pray to be obedient, Pray for each other, pray for your families, pray for the government, pray for all those in authority. Pray for strength and trust that God will hear our prayers. The prayers of the righteous still avails much….Just pray. It’s praying time.
This sermon was submitted by Rev. Zelda Childs of Baltimore, Maryland. Rev. Childs is the Pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Columbia, Maryland. zelcap@msn.com
