Fields United Methodist Church

Celebrate Jesus!

Pastor Tom Joyce

August 29, 2022

“He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’”

Luke 11:1

There are some people that have the gift of putting the right words together at the right time, the right place, and speak in such a way that one cannot help but hear. Prayer seems to be like that; some have the gift of prayer, others do not so prayer is assumed best led by those specially trained and gifted to pray.  The disciples that hung out with Jesus must have felt the same way; they heard Jesus pray and it sounded like John’s disciples had the gift of prayer as well.  Truth is, prayer is not a gift offered to a chosen few; it is a blessing offered to all people, including you.  Praying is our communication with God and God hears what comes from our heart regardless of the words we speak or even mix-up trying to get words just right.  Fact is, there are no words that God, through Jesus, doesn’t understand that comes from us at the time we lift them up in prayer.  Jesus taught the disciples the grandest of all prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, for those of us whose words often do no flow readily from our lips. When the stuff of life is out of control, and when your prayer seems impossible to articulate, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but that Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 826) Jesus offers you the gift of prayer, and if your circumstance makes prayer hard to come by, Jesus says to you, “when you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come…”  Your prayers are heard by God and you will be given the words, or the lack thereof; Jesus has known you and has loved you from to the time you were conceived and knows your heart before you utter the very first word of prayer.  May your prayers be a symphony of faith directed to the One who “neither slumbers nor sleeps,” and who has promised to be with you, “even to the end of the age.”  Thank you Jesus for the gift of prayer.