Sermon Reflections from But First, Pray... | Alex Hardt | January 6, 2026
All great scholars, biblical teachers, missionaries and well-seasoned Christians will tell you of the importance of prayer. Why is this something we learn with age and experience? I think it is because prayer is intangible and we are connecting to an invisible God. People like to have things concrete before them that they can see and touch. They want believe in things they produced by their hard work. Prayer is not like that and it makes it hard to commit and process it as something productive in our lives.
Pastor Alex is right- prayer needs to lead the way. I hate it that this is something that needs experience to believe but prayer does change things. We just can’t see it all the time. James tells us several things about prayer. James 5:13a “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” And James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” From these verses we can see that, prayer works for the sick, for forgiveness of sins, healing in general and has great power. How many of us have prayed for someone who is sick and they have gotten better? Likewise, I’ve prayed for the very sick who died. The only way I can resolve this is that our prayers have to align with God’s will to be granted, and yet God sees something when we pray. He sees our heart and desire for that person to be healed, saved, etc. Are we serious about seeing them healed or saved, well how much do we persist in prayer about them? In Ephesians when Paul is telling us about the armor of God in verse 18 he tell us about prayer, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Prayer takes that leap of faith as well as diligence to keep faithfully praying with perseverance.
So what do we get out of it, praying? As Pastor Alex said, it aligns our hearts with God and is a conversation not a performance. We are talking to our heavenly Father and unlike friends and relatives HE ALWAYS has time to listen. 1 John 5:13-14 “ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 4:16 “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.” If we take these to heart, we see that with prayer we gain confidence in who God is, we are assured He always hears us, and we get grace and mercy when we need it the most! Wow!
In addition, prayer opens up our hearts and minds to God, to His ways and thoughts and helps us see the world His way. We know from Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We are not meant to understand all about God as He is incomprehensible to our finite minds. But God does want to fellowship and communion with us as believers. That is why He sent Jesus to redeem us and reconcile us to Him. John 1:2-3 “the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” John is saying the Son, Jesus, brought about this miracle of fellowship we can have with the Father. Through faith in Jesus, we can commune with God and approach His throne with open hearts and minds.
Are you open to giving this a try? I know it is hard to wrap your mind around talking and communicating with the invisible God but open your heart and mind to the possibility. Seek Him in prayer and He will be found. He promises in Acts 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. “ God keeps His promises and will meet you in prayer if you seek Him. Claim our memory verse for this month in your heart and mind, Matthew 6:33 “ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Step out in faith this month- pray with confidence that God hears you! You will be richly rewarded!
Linda
All great scholars, biblical teachers, missionaries and well-seasoned Christians will tell you of the importance of prayer. Why is this something we learn with age and experience? I think it is because prayer is intangible and we are connecting to an invisible God. People like to have things concrete before them that they can see and touch. They want believe in things they produced by their hard work. Prayer is not like that and it makes it hard to commit and process it as something productive in our lives.
Pastor Alex is right- prayer needs to lead the way. I hate it that this is something that needs experience to believe but prayer does change things. We just can’t see it all the time. James tells us several things about prayer. James 5:13a “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” And James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” From these verses we can see that, prayer works for the sick, for forgiveness of sins, healing in general and has great power. How many of us have prayed for someone who is sick and they have gotten better? Likewise, I’ve prayed for the very sick who died. The only way I can resolve this is that our prayers have to align with God’s will to be granted, and yet God sees something when we pray. He sees our heart and desire for that person to be healed, saved, etc. Are we serious about seeing them healed or saved, well how much do we persist in prayer about them? In Ephesians when Paul is telling us about the armor of God in verse 18 he tell us about prayer, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Prayer takes that leap of faith as well as diligence to keep faithfully praying with perseverance.
So what do we get out of it, praying? As Pastor Alex said, it aligns our hearts with God and is a conversation not a performance. We are talking to our heavenly Father and unlike friends and relatives HE ALWAYS has time to listen. 1 John 5:13-14 “ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.” One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 4:16 “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.” If we take these to heart, we see that with prayer we gain confidence in who God is, we are assured He always hears us, and we get grace and mercy when we need it the most! Wow!
In addition, prayer opens up our hearts and minds to God, to His ways and thoughts and helps us see the world His way. We know from Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We are not meant to understand all about God as He is incomprehensible to our finite minds. But God does want to fellowship and communion with us as believers. That is why He sent Jesus to redeem us and reconcile us to Him. John 1:2-3 “the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” John is saying the Son, Jesus, brought about this miracle of fellowship we can have with the Father. Through faith in Jesus, we can commune with God and approach His throne with open hearts and minds.
Are you open to giving this a try? I know it is hard to wrap your mind around talking and communicating with the invisible God but open your heart and mind to the possibility. Seek Him in prayer and He will be found. He promises in Acts 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. “ God keeps His promises and will meet you in prayer if you seek Him. Claim our memory verse for this month in your heart and mind, Matthew 6:33 “ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Step out in faith this month- pray with confidence that God hears you! You will be richly rewarded!
Linda
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