When You Pray

I think one of the greatest inventions in communication today is the text message because I can talk with the people in my life instantly. Recently, a feature in text messaging shows when a message is read, which I have to admit can create anxiety within me when I don’t get an immediate response. I can see the person has read the message. But if they don’t respond right away (they leave my message on “read”), then I start to wonder, “Why aren’t you replying already?”

Let me ask you this: Does it ever feel like God leaves your prayers on “read”; like he’s not responding to your prayers? Maybe for some of us, that can really shake up our faith. We might wonder, “Is God even listening?” So, the question I want to ask is this: How can we remain unshakable in our faith and loyalty to God when it feels like God isn’t answering our prayers?

In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel sends up a prayer to God. And we’re gonna look at three actions we can take in our prayer lives even when it feels like God is leaving our prayers on read.

If you’re taking notes, here’s the first one…

1. Let God speak to me first

Would you call yourself a good listener? A survey found that 96 percent consider themselves good listeners, yet we retain only half of what we hear. However, there is good news. They found that women were significantly better listeners than men. Sorry, guys.

Before we go to God in prayer, we’ve got to first listen to God. Now, Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:8 that our Father knows our needs before we ask. Prayer expresses our trust in God. It’s not about technique or having the right formula. It’s about a trusting relationship with a Father who loves his children and wants to hear from them.

But prayer begins with listening to God. How do we listen to God? It starts by reading his Word. It starts by getting into the Bible. When we let God talk to us first through the Scriptures, then we’re gonna know how to pray, what to pray, and when to pray. That’s what Daniel did. He got into God’s Word and discovered what to pray for.

Look at verse 2 of Daniel chapter 9. It says…

in the first year of [Darius’] reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

Now, remember Daniel and a bunch of Jewish people (about 36,000-48,000 ) are living in exile in Babylon. They’ve been away for a long time – almost 70 years now – and Daniel is longing for God’s people to return to their homeland. But he’s been reading God’s Word – specifically the book of Jeremiah – and prompts him to pray to God because it tells him their time is just about up. He wouldn’t be asking God about this if he had not been reading the Bible.

If you want to have a more effective prayer life, read God’s Word. Getting into God’s Word – the Scriptures – will help you know how to pray, what to pray, and when to pray.

2. Focus my full attention on God

Daniel says in verse 3…

So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him…

How do you know someone’s paying attention to you when you’re talking? They’re looking at you, right? This is what Daniel is doing with God. He’s got his attention turned toward God. He’s seeking guidance from the Lord. And we can do the same thing. When we pray, we can turn our attention to God by looking up. There’s nowhere in the Bible that says to bow our heads and close our eyes to pray. But there are a few examples of people who looked up to God and prayed out loud. Besides, sometimes when I close my eyes to pray, I fall asleep.

When we give our attention to God, it means we’re intentionally seeking him. Let me give you a few verses on this.

God says in Jeremiah 29:13…

You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Hebrews 11:6 says…

6 … [God] rewards those who seek him.

And Jesus says in Matthew 6:33…

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

Don’t seek wealth; seek God. Don’t seek fame; seek God. Don’t seek pleasure. Don’t seek a husband. Don’t seek a girlfriend. Don’t seek all this stuff we think we’ve got to have; seek God. He’ll take care of our needs. Maybe ask yourself: What could change in my life if I started passionately seeking God instead of everything else I’m chasing in life? What would it look like if I sought after God’s will for my life instead of my own? What if I directed my full attention to God instead of my screens, my hobbies, or whatever else that tends to distract me? Jesus said God will provide.

3. Express my desires with passion

Do you ever feel like your prayers are stale? Maybe we say the same words over and over again. “God, bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies.” “God, bless the gift and the giver.” “Now I lay me down to sleep…”. How often do we pray without emotion and maybe without authenticity? They’re just words we’ve learned, and we’re stuck in a rut in our prayers? God doesn’t care how beautiful our prayers sound; he cares about the heart behind them.

In verse 3 again, Daniel is seeking God by “petitioning” him. He’s pleading with God. He’s asking with emotion. He’s down on his knees, earnestly begging. Another translation says he’s pouring out his heart and baring his soul to God. This isn’t some wimpy prayer. This is gut-wrenching prayer. Daniel desperately wants to get back home, and he’s crying out to God. Have you ever done that? Have you ever poured out your heart to God? Have you ever bared your soul to him? I would guess you have, especially when you were going through a difficult situation and were desperate for God to intervene.

So, what do you desperately want from God this morning? Now James tells us to ask with the right motives. Does it feel like God has left your prayer on read? You know, it’s difficult to read emotion in a text message. Maybe you need to bare your heart and soul out loud with feeling.

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.