A Prayerful Life
Pentecost 7 – July 27, 2025
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6-19
Luke 11:1-13
It is not difficult to figure out what the theme of today’s texts are about: prayer. As I have said in the past the texts are chosen in relation to the Gospel reading. Since our text from Luke is about Jesus’ instructions on prayer, the Old Testament and Psalm also talk about prayer. We can tell by Jesus’ instructions that prayer was important to him. If you remember the gospels often tell us of the times Jesus went off to pray – sometimes with success and other times he was interrupted by people demanding his attention. And you all can remember Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. But I am getting ahead of myself here. We begin with Abraham’s prayer.
This prayer is a petition of bargaining with God. God has decided to destroy two towns because of their wickedness. Abraham is arguing with God that he would be destroying the righteous persons with the wicked ones. This prayer takes on the form of an encounter in the market place where a buyer is bargaining with the seller for the price of an item. There the buyer would start at a low price and the seller at a high price and the two would bargain until they reached a price both agreed upon. Although, here, it is only Abraham that is changing the value of God’s redemption. He starts at fifty and keeps lowering the number. God does not enter into the bargaining process God only agrees that God will save the number given by Abraham. Although Abraham and God end at the number ten – what if there were one? – I will leave that to you to ponder. This is one type of prayer and we all have engaged in this process. But, unlike Abraham, it often is all about us and not the other. In those bargains we say to God if you do this for me, I will do that for you. This is a bargain that God cannot win because it makes you the one who determines what happens – not God. Abraham’s prayer was the opposite of this. He prayed for the salvation of others.
Our psalm gives another example of what prayer is all about. That is to give thanks to God and to sing God’s praises. We praise God because of God’s love and faithfulness. God has answered in times of trouble and increased our strength. Though we walk through troubles God keeps us safe. To this list that the psalmist gives us we can add many more things to thank God for. I would guess that if you sat down and gave thanks to God for all that you have it would be a long prayer. But prayer does not have to be long, as Jesus tells us in our gospel reading for today.
We all know the Lord’s Prayer. It was probably one of the first things that you learned as a child. It is a simple prayer. As we pray our Lord’s prayer we pray that God’s love and kindness will come into our lives and the world. We also pray that God would provide us with what we need on a daily basis. Lastly we pray that God forgive our sins and help us to withstand temptation. This prayer also reminds us of our sin and unworthiness to be God’s children by asking to be forgiven as we forgive others.
After giving us this prayer Jesus then goes on to tell us to be persistent in our prayers. For if we ask it will be given to us. Unfortunately it does not seem that way. There have been many things you and I have asked for and have not received. I point out that Jesus’ story is about feeding others who have come unexpectedly. Jesus ends his example by telling us what we truly need to ask for in our prayers is the Holy Spirit. Just like Abraham we are called by Jesus to pray for the needs of others, not our own. So, when you pray, give thanks to God for all that God has given you and then ask God to give you the strength and courage to share those gifts with all in need.