Embracing Prayer: A Journey of Communion and Transformation

"This week, really on Wednesday, we kind of started the Lenten season with our Ash Wednesday service. So we're taking a pause from First Peter for probably the next six weeks as we go through Lent and just kind of focusing on the different themes that we hold on to during Lent. This week it's about prayer. And this sermon isn't necessarily how to pray. This sermon isn't necessarily why to pray. This sermon is considering the fact that as God's people, we're called to pray. And so it's kind of bringing back some themes or maybe some good points to hold on to as we pray." [00:27:43]

"But the plower hut was, like, where you would go with any community disputes, right? So instead of turning it over to the magistrate, to the local people, which is interesting because grandfather was also a judge, right? But within the culture, there was this idea that you go to the plower hut and you literally give your plower, give your plower, and then someone would rule on it, right? And so that was there. It was a schoolhouse. But the thing that outside of the big pink house that was also really, really striking whenever you went to visit was the mosque, you know, because my grandfather was also a Muslim chief. And so at the mosque, I saw prayer as something that was a call, right? Like you would get out, someone was the caller, and they would just get on the horn, so to speak, right? And then people would just start gathering from everywhere, right? So that picture of prayer was communal. It was consistent. You know, Muslims pray five times a day, dedicated five times a day. But then it was also confusing because we were Liberian, we spoke English, but everything was in Arabic." [00:29:08]

"And I was like four or five years old trying to figure all this out, right? So that picture of prayer was, again, it was a call. It was communal. It was consistent. But it was confusing. And then, like, my Christian side was even more challenging, I think, right? Because we were very much Baptists, right? Like Baptists to our core, Baptists through generations. In fact, my parents, well, my parents had two churches, because it's not good enough to go to church for three hours on Sunday. You got to go to church for six or seven, right? So my mom's church was a very proud church, Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia. It is literally where the Constitution of Liberia was signed, right? So it's very much like Baptists to the core. And even though they were expressive with their faith, it was also very formal, right? Like, I would never wear this to Providence Baptist, right? I'd probably get thrown out, right? And it was very, very formal." [00:30:49]

"Then there was the Johnson Church, my dad's church. My dad was Pentecostal. And I don't know if they just, like, went from Azusa to Monrovia, but that's what seemed to be happening, right? Like, it was just everything was expressive, right? And so from these two places, I got that prayer was public, right? It was praise. It was personal. Sometimes, even as a kid, I felt it was a little too personal. You know, it was just like, should you be sharing this with 200 of your closest friends, right? Like, I know the Spirit's come down, but do we need to hear all this, right? So I heard that prayer was personal, but outside of all of that, I heard that prayer was powerful, right? And so that picture also has stuck with me. And so I think as we think about prayer, especially this week as you go through Lent, I think one of the things that would be really good to you, it would behoove you, so to speak, right, to actually think about what are some of your earliest memories of prayer? What are the lessons you learned about prayer? What are the things you hold on to prayer? So for me, prayer is still a call, it's still communal, it still needs to be consistent, and sometimes it can be confusing. If you've been a Christian long enough, you get to a point where sometimes you're like, God, do you really hear me? Because it feels like I'm talking to the wall, right? But I think also prayer needs to be public, and in the sense of it's not just me and God, we also need to be consistently praying together. And it can be personal, which we'll talk about in a little bit, but again, it's powerful." [00:34:09]

"And so the blessing this morning is that as we come to the scripture, we read it earlier, actually in our communal scripture, was that we are invited to pray, right? And we're invited to grow. That passage in Philippians 4 says, do not be anxious about anything, right? And some of us are like, how is that even possible, right? But do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. We're invited to not only bring these requests to God, but it's a chance for us to grow. And the other beauty of prayer is that we're also blessed to see other people grow too, right? The writer of Hebrews puts it like this, Therefore, since we have such a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, praise God, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. I love this passage because it's a reminder that as we pray, the same thing that Peter called, you know, Jesus resurrected as our living hope, we're praying to someone who's alive." [00:38:50]

"But the writer of Hebrews goes a little bit deeper. It says, not only is Jesus our living hope, the resurrected Jesus, but he's our great high priest. We've been talking a lot the last year, especially in Peter, about this idea that God calls us to be the priest, right? To be a bridge between our world and God, to take the message of God to the people. But what a blessing that we have, that Jesus is the bridge for us to God. That right now, he stands before the Father, taking everything that we have and putting it at the Father's feet. He's our great high priest, but he's a great high priest who empathizes, right? Like, God relates to what you go through. That's something that's scandalous to every other faith, you know? My Muslim cousins and stuff will say, like, how can you believe in a God that feels?" [00:41:45]

"How can you believe in a God that is human, right? Like, how can you be in a God that's affected by what you say? But that's the joy of our Jesus, that he empathizes and goes through or understands what we go through. And that's the beauty of it. And so this is the Jesus who should give you confidence to go to God in prayer. Because he not only knows what you're going through, he not only understands it, he not only empathizes, but he's the priest who's the bridge between you and God. And I love this last part, right? Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence. Why? So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time in need. I don't know what's heavy on your heart this morning. I don't know what burden you've been carrying. I don't know what you feel like that you're praying and you're talking to a wall or you're not sure if God is there." [00:45:50]

"But I know that the writer of Hebrews gets it right, that Jesus is still your high priest, that Jesus still understands, and that you can go with confidence and you can expect to receive not just mercy, but grace in your time of need. Amen?" [00:48:26]

"And in that time, it was a time of prayer, time of sacrifice, time of reflection, time of surrender to the Spirit. Yes, he was tempted by the devil, but those are just three scenes, right? Those three scenes might have lasted three days max, right? Maybe even a day if you put all the time together. But the rest of that time, Jesus was without. Jesus was on his own in the wilderness walking with God. So that's one way the church has said, let's look at Lent that way. The other way the church has said, let's look at Lent is, remember in the Gospels it says, he set his face towards Jerusalem. A passage has always struck me that Jesus not only knew he was going to die, but he willingly submitted and made that his entire focus and walk. And so what we do here is before we get to the celebration of Resurrection Sunday and Easter, it's like a march towards Calvary. And so these themes that we hold on to is all either we're in the desert with Jesus or we're marching towards Calvary with Jesus. And all in all, we're holding on as we walk with God. We're holding on as we walk with Jesus. And so for the wilderness, some of the themes the church has held on to is the need for prayer, which we're talking about this morning. The need for sacrifice or self -denial, right? The need to not just give up something, but the need to repent so that we can be reconciled to God. And when they thought about Calvary in our march, it says it's about taking up your cross. So whether it's self -sacrifice or prayer or repentance, you're taking up your cross to follow Jesus because ultimately that sacrifice points us to celebration. The celebration that we get on Easter points us to the glory." [00:40:35]

"And isn't that what Jesus did for the joy that was set before him, took up the cross, despising the shame. And so for us, wilderness or Lent is about preparation for the resurrection." [00:42:11]

"That looks like maybe meditation on scripture. And that looks like fasting. And so the idea that the ancients have always said is that whatever this thing you're sacrificing, when you get a pang or a want of that thing, use that as a time of prayer, right? When if you're fasting and that stomach growls, make that a praise to the Lord, right? And if it growls loud enough, dance to it. I don't know, have fun, right? But that inward work is prayer, meditation on scripture, or just reading scripture or fasting. I think what we forget in the West is that Lent was also not just about what's happening inside, right? But how God can use you on the outside. So during the season of Lent, we were also invited not just to what's happening to me, but to service, right? Thinking through how we can serve one another in the season. Thinking through how we can be available in the season. And in that outward work, you're going to be submitting to the Holy Spirit to lead you. A lot of focus on Lent is on solitude." [00:42:44]