"The Purpose of Prayer" a sermon on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 & Luke 22:39-46

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Luke 22:39-46
“The Purpose of Prayer”
Preached April 6, 2025

Whenever I teach Confirmation, we talk about what prayer is…and what prayer isn’t. Prayer is one of the basics, the foundation of our Christian faith, but whether we are young children giving the generic “Pray” answer during the Children’s Moment, teenagers exploring their faith in confirmation, or adults well into their years of faith…all of us could benefit from returning to the “basics” of prayer.

First today, we are going to talk about what prayer - and God - isn’t.

God is not a vending machine. And prayer is not the perfect dollar we enter with the code to get the outcome we want. Put that smooth dollar bill in, enter the code, get the formula for prayer “right” and God grants our wishes.

In that same vein, God is not a genie. Rub the lamp just right and viola! Three wishes granted.

We probably treat God and prayer this way more often than we want to admit. Subconsciously we may think, how do we get our prayer to “work”? How do we get God to grant us what we ask for? This may have to do with the rampant heresy of the prosperity Gospel in our culture. That falsely tells us that if we live the right way, do the right things, pray the right way - then God will reward us with health, wealth, prosperity. And if our prayers were not answered…perhaps we need to point the finger back at ourselves, tweak the way we live, change our prayer formula… But this isn’t how God desires us to interact in prayer. There is not a magic prayer to get the outcome we desire.

There are a lot of formulas for prayer out there. And there are a lot of people who will jump at the chance to tell you the “right” way to pray. If formulas such as “ACTS - Adoration, Confession Thanksgiving, Supplication” or formulas of written out prayers or litanies or anything like that help you pray - awesome. And I always say there is no ONE right way to pray - whatever helps you talk to God, whatever helps you have a MUTUAL relationship with God - that is the right way for you to pray.

For Vending Machines and Genies - those are transactional interactions. Not a loving, mutual relationship. For that’s what God - and prayer is - a means to be in Relationship with the God who is Divine Relationship. God, our three-in-one God who is in perfect relationship with God’s self, desires a loving relationship with us, with you, with me, as individual people - isn’t that amazing? God wants to talk to you. God wants you to talk to God. God wants mutuality, for you to be open before and to God’s self and for God to make God’s self known to you.

Prayer is the vehicle through which we do that. Prayer can be a formula. Prayer can be extemporaneous. Prayer can be breathing. Prayer can be looking at the world through the heart’s eyes. Prayer can be so many things - prayer is intentionally connecting with God.

So with this understanding of prayer, let us turn to two ATTITUDES of prayer that I believe can be very helpful in living lives that are steeped in prayer and pleasing to God. And they come directly from our prayers prayed in our two Scriptures this morning.

The first from 1 Samuel:

“Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’...And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”

Here I Am, Lord. I am listening.

God wants to talk to us. God wants to call us to serve and love God and one another. In order for God to talk to us…we have to be listening. We have to offer up, “Here I am, Lord!” Often so many of our prayers are oriented toward asking God to grant our prayers. There is a big mindshift change in order to pray, “Here I am, Speak to me, Use me.” How often do we pray to serve? Instead of asking Christ to take care of everyone, how often do we pray for opportunities to feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, help those in need? I would venture to guess that our “ “may I receive” prayers out number our “may I serve” prayers. Because it’s harder. It’s harder to step up and out in prayer. To not just be benefactors of God’s generosity, but stewards of God’s generosity - helping share it with others, being the answered prayer of God to others. When we say “Here I am, Lord! I have heard your call.” We are saying to God - use me to answer other’s prayers. And if we really think about that…isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it a divine and impactful opportunity? You could be the answer to someone else’s prayer. Let God know in prayer your willingness to be used for this divine and holy purpose. “Here I am, Lord.”

Our second attitude of prayer comes from the lips of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.”

Not my will but yours be done.

This prayer is about relinquishing control. Realizing that we are not God. Even Jesus, in a very human moment, bent his will to his heavenly Father’s. Now, I have a confession for you. I often think that my will, and my way, is best. Surely those of us who have prayed for healing for a loved one think that that is OBVIOUSLY the best will. We might say, “not your will but mine” begrudgingly. In a “I guess if you want to do it your way, Lord. But have you considered my will? I think my way is really good. So let’s go with my way.”

I will admit that sometimes, I even think that my way is better than God’s way. I often think my way is more life-giving. Because I have put God and God’s will in a box - a box that it does not belong in. Sometimes I think I even fear God’s will. Because I fear when things don't go my way. I think, “What if God’s will is for me to suffer?” As if my God is not Life and Joy itself. I think, “What if God’s will is harder?” As if God did not say, “My burden is easy and my yoke is light.” I think, if we’re being really honest, we often fear God’s will. Because we are creatures who like to be in control. And we also have images of a wrathful and cruel God - that are just not true. God does not cause suffering. God is with us in suffering. God does not give us trials to test us. God walks with us through the flames. God does not cause the dark night of the soul - but God uses it to make God’s self known to us. When we recognize this, we can be more open, and less afraid of what God asks of us.

Now, what God asks us for may be hard. It may cause us to grow. It may cause us to step outside our comfort zone. It may ask us to sacrifice. It may ask us to give. And we view all those things as “negative” in our world. And when we accept God’s will, when we listen for what God has in store for us, when we say “Not my will God but yours. Here I am, use me!” We are also opening ourselves up to abundant life. Abundant joy. More relationships. More love. More community. Let’s stop diminishing what God has in store for us by living in fear of God’s will - let’s start saying, please God! Please God YOUR will. For your will is an abundant life for me! Life overflowing in Love. Life that goes beyond the life of this world. Life that is more - more than any will of any human in this world, including our own will.

There are two prayers I would like to lift up as examples of praying “Here I am, Lord” and “Not my will but yours.”

One comes from our Wesleyan tradition, The Covenant Prayer, often prayed on New Year’s Day. Today, I am going to skip the antiquated language and offer a modern paraphrase written by a United Methodist colleague that still gets to the heart of the prayer

“I am not my own self-made, self-reliant human being.
In truth, O God, I am Yours.
Make me into what You will.
Make me a neighbor with those whom You will.
Guide me on the easy path for You.
Guide me on the rocky road for You.
Whether I am to step up for You or step aside for You;
Whether I am to be lifted high for You or brought low for You;
Whether I become full or empty, with all things or with nothing;
I give all that I have and all that I am for You.
So be it.
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. Amen.”

In this prayer, we offer up our whole lives, in abundant seasons, in empty seasons, on the easy path, or the rocky path - we offer up our whole selves to God. And it ends with a recognition of the mutual relationship which God desires of us.

Another pray, that gets to the heart of the attitude of prayer I am urging us to cultivate is our Today, Tomorrow, Together Campaign prayer: “God, what do you want to do through me?”

When I first heard this prayer my reaction was something like, “Wow! We better be careful with that prayer! It could be dangerous!”

Again, why was that my gut reaction? Perhaps because I fear what God will ask of me. I fear being asked to widen the circle. I fear being asked to change my mind. I fear being asked to step out in love. I fear relinquishing control of my will to God’s. I want you to hear this not as an indictment of you if you’ve felt or thought similar things but as an opportunity to extend yourself grace - even the preacher is sometimes afraid to relinquish her will to God! And again, why? This reaction, this fear, isn’t in line with my view of an All Loving and All Merciful God. But the fear of God’s will is in line with a world that tells us that Me, Myself, and I come first. In a world that tells us to store up wealth in barns for tomorrow. In a world that tells us to dig in deep and never move from our positions. In a world that tells us that our own comfort is paramount over love of our neighbors…

So yes, praying “Here I am.”
Praying “Not my will be yours.”
Praying “God, what do you want to do through me?”

These are big, bold, dangerous prayers - not dangerous to us - but dangerous to the way of life that is not reflective of God’s vision for us and for the world.

During my theology interview for ordination in the United Methodist church, there was a minister interviewing me who disagreed with a sentence I wrote - a single sentence in 40 plus pages of paperwork - on the Biblical story of the binding of Isaac. I called it a text of terror and because of that he was worried that I didn’t have an understanding og obedience to God. In an hour long interview, we spent the majority of it on what obedience to God is and what it looks like.

And finally, in a moment of frustration I just told him - “I will be obedient to God - and God will never ask me or anyone else to kill a child!”

And that’s the whole point of that Bible story, in my opinion, it conveys that God is NOT a God who demands violence. God is a God who will always make a way for Life and Love and Mercy. That story reminds me that obedience to God is life-giving, not death-wielding.

If we view God as a God who demands more, more, more until we have nothing left. If we view God as a God who punishes us in order to teach. If we view God as a God who demands violence to be satisfied. If we view God as a God we think we have to “trick” - or use the right formula - in order for that God to grant our prayers…then yeah, I can see why we would be afraid to pray these big, bold, audacious prayers. And this is CERTAINLY not the God I believe in. BUT. I think the fear of this God, this God that is not my God, is there. This God is a God that is preached by many but it is not the God who was revealed to us in Jesus of Nazareth. That is a God of Love. Of mutual relationship. Or Grace and Mercy.

If we pray these big, audacious prayers…If we have the attitude of prayer of “Here I am” and “Not my will but yours”...What’s the “worse” that could happen?

The answer? That God will ask us, nudge us, lead us…to better love God and neighbor. And, again, this may be HARD (giving up ideas/beliefs/opinions that hurt others, being more generous (with prayers/presence/gifts/service/witness), helping more… so yes, God may ask something of us that may “hurt” but in the growing pains kind of way, becoming more holy and loving kind of way…

So in conclusion: Let’s be big, bold, and audacious in our prayers. Lets realize that the “fear” of prayer is not a fear that comes from who God is and what God will ask of us - but a fear of the disruption of our lives…but we live lives that need to be disrupted - in order to make room for more Love.

And so let us pray:
Here I am, Lord.
Not my will but yours.
God, what do you want to do through me?

Amen.