The emphasis for the Youth Week of Prayer is on prayer. As such the divine hour was designed to allow integration of the congregation at a level unseen in most churches. The morning Sabbath School programme was also edited to accommodate the emphasis of the week, including a short play and participation of the Youth of the Church.
Speaker: Doctor Herbert Griffiths
Title: What is Prayer
Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 20
2 Chronicles 20
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Jehoshaphat defeats Moab and Ammon
20 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites[a] came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, ‘A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar’ (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to enquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard 6 and said:
‘Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. 7 Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 “If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.”
10 ‘But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.’
13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.
Dr Griffiths started off by asking if there was anyone here who has never prayed. All of us, he said has prayed at least once in our life time. How many of us have prayed and have seen something happened at least once in our lifetime? What did you do for something to happen, he queried the congregation.
He is given a number of answers. Prayer was the general answer. He then asked another question, how many of us have prayed and nothing happen? He asked another question, where was God? Where do you think God was when you prayed and He responded to you?
The congregation mostly answered that God is everywhere, God is on His throne in Heaven, God’s Holy Spirit is with all of us and His presence is with us. That was the answer he was looking for, God’s presence is with us. He asks another question, what is prayer?
Elder Ferguson answers the question, communicating with God as with a friend. So prayer is talking to God, as if talking to your friends on all the various form of communications; mobile, landline, social media etc. Dr Griffiths noted.
How do you feel, when you are talking to a friend on the phone he asked. Are you nervous, are you confident? Are you happy? And if you are telling off someone on the phone, you are feeling happy but they are not happy.
Prayer is talking with God, as you would talk with a friend. What sort of thing do you say to a friend? Someone said that you can unburden yourself to a friend. He asked do you hold back when talking to a friend.
One person responded that there are certain things that you will not say to a friend, whereas with God you can share everything. The Elder agrees with the statement. What sort of things would you not say to your friend he asks?
One person answers that there are some things that he would say to God that he would not say to a friend. Another said that family confidence cannot be shared with friends. Another person noted a saying: My enemies I fear not, but as for my friends I am always in danger. He noted that this can be true even with the most trust worthy of friends.
Pastor Appiah joined the conversation with the following statement that we need to understand in what capacity we are putting God into. A friend relationship is limiting the relationship with God. God has no limits. A friend can betray you, at times cannot be trusted, but by putting your all to God, God will never betray you and there will be no limits in a trusting relationship with God. That makes a distinction between a relationship with God and one with friends.
The Elder agreed with all the points submitted. There are some people in the Church who will go to their friends and talk about all sorts of things and yet find it difficult to talk with God. He notes the brief prayers that we tend to make – “Good morning God, look after me today!” He observes that we can be very selective in what we are saying to God, and yet we spend hours talking to our friends and God is pushed into the background.
He asks for Genesis Chapter 3:8-13 to be read, where he notes is the origins of prayer.
Genesis 3
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’
10 He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’
11 And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’
12 The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’
The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’
We are saying that prayer is talking to God and we are told the first act of communication or dialogue between God and man is recorded in Genesis 3. We see that God is the one who initiated this dialogue. He was the one who came to man. That is the reason why he asked the question where is God when you prayed? God’s Presence is there with you, it doesn’t matter what the situation you are in, and His Presence is there. God is the one who initiated it; God is the one that wants to have this dialogue with us and therefore puts this propensity (an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way) in us to make us want to communicate. We use it quite rightly to communicate with our family and friends. Sometimes we exclude God or just spend a few moments of the day talking with God.
He said that we can see that God came down to Adam and Eve, the scripture tells us that when they heard God walking in the Garden they hid themselves. We do not know what form God took, the Scripture did not say, it is stated that Adam and Eve heard the footsteps of God in the Garden. They hid themselves and thought God would not see them, but God knew they were there.
How about us today he asks, when we find ourselves in situations or places where we are not to be. God is there too, because Adam and Eve hid themselves due to their nakedness, they did not want God to see them that way. He asked how many times you have committed certain sins and feels so guilty that we don’t want to pray. That is when God wants us to approach Him.
God knew what Adam and Eve had done, but He still approached them. He didn’t keep away from them. He still came and went to them, to talk with them. They were the ones who were shunning God, the same way you and he have done.
Sometimes you can always tell when brethren in the Church have some grievances with each other. What do they do? They keep away from each other. That is what we do. We tend to keep away and show ugly facial expressions around the person. This is the time that we should be praying to God, because prayer is what we have established to be talking to God.
He asks another question, when is your prayer not a prayer? When we are not honest is one answer. When you know what to do and it is the right thing to do and you know you are going to do it. When it’s not from the heart, were some of the answers.
Another one is when you are preaching to God, he said. Have you ever listened to some people when they prayed? In their prayer, they start soft, addressing God, but before the middle of the prayer they start to preach to God. The things they should say to us has humans, they begin to say to God. They are preaching sermons to God that is when you realise they are not praying but preaching.
Listen, he noted, especially in a group prayer how the dynamics of it changes. He spoke of two prayers – Psalms 90, a prayer of Moses and also 2 Chronicles 20; where the King prayed, when his country was invaded, he called all the people together. He said that we call it a congregational or community prayer. He noted that we don’t have such prayers; the usual is the individual prayer.
The King got everyone together, a community prayer, even the babies according to the scriptures took part. What was the result of it? God responded to their cries. God did what He wanted to do for them.
In summary, he said you and himself should not become wary talking to God. He said that he liked what a sister said earlier, that she wants a prayer partner at 4pm each day. Early is good for him. He is encouraging every one of us to spend time talking with God. Putting our cares before Him and we will see results. He prays that each one of us will come closer to the Lord and will allow Him to have His way.
S & L Buchannan reading tips for prayer life.
Joel reading the poem Children's Prayer.
Marla with the prayer and testimonies.
S & L Butler with readings from the Scripture.
E. J. Vickers playing the main role of play The Lord's Prayer, with Clive Furguson in the role of God.
E. J. Vickers giving his testimony.
Youth Director C. Crossdale.
The Youth of the Church.
Vanessa Singing Group
Poems
Father, we thank thee
Father, we thank thee for the night,
And for the pleasant morning light;
For rest and food and loving care,
And all that makes the day so fair.
Help us to do the things we should,
To be to others kind and good;
In all we do, in work or play,
To grow more loving every day.
At night before you go to sleep you could pray
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Prayers are read
They are answered for you
Cause God made you special
And He dearly loves you
He gave us His Son
To die on the Cross
He healed and forgave
A cause that was lost
Pray everyday
And every night too
For God so loved the world
He created me and you
Page last update: March 27 2014 08:23
