A Rhythm of Prayer

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 Sermon Reflections from A Rhythm of Prayer| Alex Hardt | March 2,  2025

Pastor Alex began his new series “From Now On” with a message on prayer. His points are practical and insightful as he lead us to understand how prayer can and does lead us towards a full relationship with God. Have you ever thought about how you began a relationship with your best friend? Perhaps you encountered them at school, in the neighborhood, at a club meeting or at church. When you first met, you were testing one another out to see if there was a ‘fit’ for friendship and once you found there was you began to seek out times to experience being with them. Similarly with God, our ‘fit’ for friendship with God was established at the cross by Jesus. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior we were welcomed into His family and God the Father could become real to us. Our growth in our friendship with God begins with prayer, scripture and fellowship as we experience our new life of faith.

How do you talk to someone new? You broach subjects to discuss so you can learn about them. You want to know what they like and what they don’t etc. With God we need to learn about Him, what He desires of us and what He is like, His character or attributes. We can do this through scripture as we dive into His book and get to know Him. Verses like Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” and Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” show us the nature of God. The more we know about God the better we can talk with Him in prayer. Pastor called it learning to love God.

While you are getting to know your new friend, you need experiences with them so you can learn to trust their behaviors towards you and their reactions. This also happens with God as we walk in faith, our trust in who God is and His love for us expands. When I was just beginning my writing journey with God, I decided to blog daily during Advent and then Lent. I was worried that I would wake up one morning and not know what to write. I am pleased to say that ‘that never happened’. God was totally faithful and met me each day at my computer and led me as I wrote. After over 10 years of blogging, I don’t even worry about that anymore. I know I can trust God to meet my needs and bring me through it. That is how our trust in God grows- little by little through life’s experiences. Abraham learned this through his many experiences and James 2:23 tell us, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.” Abraham learned to trust God and God called him a friend. We can too.

Another aspect to friendship is listening. How many of you have a friend or relative that never lets you get a word into the conversation? Whatever is happening they have always experienced it! You may like that person for who they are but I would say they will never be a close friend as their conversations are all about them! Friends converse yes, but they also listen to each other’s needs and desires. We seek to help and comfort as we listen. God listens to us. John 9:31 the man born blind testified about Jesus, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” Hebrews 4:16 talks about the accessibility of God to listen and hear us, ‘Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” God is accessible to those who love Him and will meet us to listen, help and comfort us in need.

For someone to be our friend, we need to just relax and enjoy their presence when we are with them. I think this is what Pastor Alex meant by “rest in His love.” Being with our friends creates a calmness in our lives and assurance us that we are loved and valued. Oh! How much more this happens with God. Time spent in prayer draws us closer to Him and helps us gain assurance of His love and presence in our lives. Learning to Abide in the Lord is a lifelong process. Martin Luther said “I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all, but whatever I placed in God’s hand, that I still possess.” Would it be so with us!

May your friendship with God and dependence upon that friendship grow each day as you learn to walk with Him.

Linda

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