“THE LIFE LINE BETWEEN YOU AND GOD” - JAN. 19, 1964

(Sermon Originally Presented By Rev. John R. Paust - it has been shortened/re-edited for reenactment)

Johnathan Edwards once began a Sermon by describing man as being like a spider held over a burning fire; Only a thin transparent web held him from falling into the burning blaze. That was his understanding of the condition of man. God held the web which was to the spider a lifeline. God holds us, he claimed, and it is only through His mercy that he doesn’t let go of the thread.

I’m sure you agree this is a rather picturesque way of describing man and his relationship with God. One which we find rather hard to agree with because it places us in such a threatening position, and yet it is a position that scripture tells us we are in for we are informed if it were not for Christ the sting of death would be final. It is hard to believe that we have such a compassionate God when he never shouts to us in English; When regardless of what we do, things still progress normally; We have learned that we must be self sufficient, we must work and act in order for things to get done, and to many, when the church says God is working through you, it sounds more like the church is excusing a God who does nothing.

Now, I believe that here is a life line between you and God and the more that it is used, the stringer your faith becomes. That life line is prayer.

Our Christian faith lags in it strength because so many times we lose communication with God. After a week of living and working, we suddenly find ourselves in church and notice that nothing particularly happens to us. We ;eave too many times feeling just as lost as we did when we come through the church doors. Let us therefore try and understand prayer in three ways this morning. First, where does it come from? Many of you probably believe that prayer comes from your heart. That you in silence decide to sit down and pray to God. You sit down with particular request and let God know it. But prayer primarily does not start with you. Prayer comes. Believe it or not, from God. If you feel like praying, it is because God is tugging at you; He wants to talk with you. Anyone who has been in the condition of dedication to Christ, knows that in prayer much more happens than just the sounds of one’s verbal chatter.

It is through prayer that God reveals things to you. Mostly he reveals yourself. Our problems often are self inflicted. The more we know about ourselves, the more we are able to cope with life. Prayer is a conversation whereby God has his greatest chance to hold your life before you so that you can see it clearly and work with him to make it powerful and meaningful.

I think that many times we get bogged down in expressing our needs. Many of us feel there is a certain way to pray. We have read the Bible in its strange twisting expression which at times almost sounds like the English language. We have heard the minister in church with great rhetoric express the feelings of the congregation in public prayer which again holds the same strange sounding noise we have come to entitle God language. Therefore, many of us have been led to believe that to pray to God means to use Thees and Thys and thous and hasts and all the crazy sounds of archaic jargon. And how can we ever expect to express our deepest feelings to God in talk which too often ties up our tongues. We are defeated before we begin.

God does not have private language that must be used when talking with him. He wants you to let your hear down, so to speak, and talk with him in anyway that helps you express your inner thoughts.

Many times we feel that there is a barrier between God and ourselves. Somehow we feel that we can’t get through to Him. It doesn’t take much to discover that we are the ones who make those barriers and bar God out of our lives. Though we have a life line between God and ourselves many times it doesn’t get used. Therefore, when we do turn and pray, often we feel uneasy, awkward, and even silly. We feel prayer doesn’t work and hence, it is useless. You can’t expect it to work perfectly if you haven’t kept it well oiled. Like an old chain that has hung in a barn unused for many seasons, prayer also can get rusty.

Well what can we do about our prayer life? First we can stop giving to God our leftover time for that is really no time at all. Our prayerful life needs discipline. If we are going to use the life line between God and ourselves, then we must use it constantly and consistently. Why not set aside a certain time during each day to let your heart turn to God and empty itself? There doesn’t have to be a pattern in a good prayerful life. All that is needed is prayer. You may pray by letting your mind wonder as you clean the house, only instead of talking to yourself talk to God. You can pray while eating lunch on the job by thinking silently with God about the things that are on your mind.

Our prayers must mean something to us if they are ever going to mean anything to God. Remember it is a loving God who has said to you “ask in My Name. Live by My Word, and I will give you life.” Paul was right when he says we do not know how to pray. But God will teach you how to pray if you really wish to allow Him to enter your life. Try it. In the privacy of your room, while driving to work, before falling asleep. Try it, and you will find before long you are not alone. Amen