Stewardship Prayer

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-13

Central Verse:

“…but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” 1 Kings 19:14b-13

Central Truth:

This is the second lesson in our stewardship series and it focuses on Prayer. This may seem like an odd verse to focus on prayer within our membership vows but we must take the time to begin to understand in the most basic elements what prayer is. Prayer is communication with God. With communication there are two important attributes to the conversation. The first is listening and the second is speaking.

Most people would put speaking as the primary for conversation but it is just the opposite which is listening. When we speak about prayer in its most basic components we are talking about conversation. Most of the time it feels like we do all the talking. We fill up the silence of our lives with it. This relegates the role of listening to God, who seems to have to put up with many sanctimonious and self-righteous types of prayers. As with most relationships the hard part is knowing when to listen.

In Elijah’s story he is hiding in a cave and hearing various strong natural events occurring outside of the cave. Then a sound comes, some translations have translated it as “still small voice” but the more accurate translation is “sound of sheer silence.” Elijah hears absolutely nothing and knows that God is there. Elijah gets the cue it is his time to listen. We often miss our cues to just listen to God. We fill our prayers with fluff and the “right” words but we don’t stop to listen. To find out what God would have us do or who God would have us pray for.

Food for Thought: (questions about the text)

Note in the story Elijah’s situation doesn’t change after his encounter with God. He is still on the run and he still feels he is the only prophet. What might this say about our prayer lives?

Theophany – this is a visible manifestation of God; this whole passage revolves around the idea of how does God make God’s self-seen. Every big thing that happens, earth quake and fire, are all things that typically happen before seeing God in the scriptures. Yet here God isn’t seen through those things.

Connections: (time with our society)

Prayer deserves a several series study on its own. There are many different forms and types of prayers. Even for all the different types of prayer they all come down to the basic form of communication of talking and listening. In our baptismal vows we are asked and reminded to pray for our church. This means we are to talk to God about our local congregation, our national church, our international church, and the Church Universal.

It is easy to use our time of prayer for our church to complain to God about something that’s happening or something we don’t like. I would like to suggest that when we feel like complaining we should stop talking and take the time to listen to God.

I have been married to Katie for 15 years now. I know compared to some that’s not a long time but it is long enough to get myself in trouble. When you are in a long-term relationship you tend to take things for granted. Perhaps it’s something that someone does or it could be that you automatically assume a person’s wants or needs because you assume you know them that well. There are some things about Katie I can depend are the same, her favorite color, and tastes in music hasn’t changed. But her taste in foods have changed over the years, she’s become more adventurous than when we were first dating.

What we do with God is that we assume that God agrees with us. This might be because of what we were taught about God yet often it is because we feel comfortable with God and try and anticipate God’s answers. This is the same thing that happened to the Pharisees in relation to predicting a savior. What was expected was very different than what God had put into motion.

Our prayers for the church should be an opportunity to hear God say something different. All the normal Theophany stuff happened around Elijah, yet it was what God typically doesn’t do, the sound of silence, that called to Elijah and put him back in the right direction.

Application:

Discussion

Questions

Prayer activity: Take 3-5 minutes to pray for our church. Say “Lord I pray for my church…Lord hear my prayer.” Then just sit in silence. If your attention starts to wander repeat the line. After the time of silence write down what may have come to your mind, a scripture verse, a thought. Share if you feel it’s appropriate.

Close in prayer: