Before Amen {At Advent}
An Advent study on prayer adapted from the book Before Amen by Max Lucado
Day 1: God is Good
He hears our prayers. We pray all the time: for healing, for travel mercies, for support and strength, for our family and friends, for people we don’t know, and everyone close to us.
We pray in times of peace and in times of conflict, when we are stressed and when we are calm.
We pray blessings and thanks, and we pray for understanding when we hurt.
In the book of James it says, “Is anyone suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. …The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:13, 16b)
Prayer is powerful because God hears our prayers.
As we come into the advent season of Christmas, we will be using Max Lucado’s new book, Before Amen, to learn the power of simple prayers.
We will learn about the prayers of some lesser acknowledged people of the Christmas story who were looking for the promised Messiah to come and how their prayers can help us draw close to God and give us access to His power for good.
Zechariah prays:
In the Gospel of Luke, the Christmas story starts with the foretelling of Jesus’ birth through the parents of John the Baptist.
John’s mom was Elizabeth, a relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
John’s dad, Zechariah, served as a priest in the temple of the Lord.
One day, when Zechariah’s division was on duty at the temple, he drew the lot to light the incense at the altar in the sanctuary. While he was in the temple lighting the incense, a whole multitude of people were praying outside (Luke 1:8-10).
Max Lucado says in his book, Before Amen, “We want to pray, but why? We might as well admit it. Prayer is odd, peculiar. Speaking into space. Lifting words into the sky. We can’t even get the cable company to answer us, yet God will? The doctor is too busy, but God isn’t? We have our doubts about prayer.
And we have our checkered history with prayer: unmet expectations, unanswered requests. We can barely genuflect for the scar tissue on our knees. God, to some, is the ultimate heartbreaker. Why keep tossing the coins of our longings into a silent pool? He jilted me once… but not twice.
Oh the peculiar puzzle of prayer.”
How many little prayers do we send up in a day? I pray mini prayers for all kinds of things, parking spots, traffic lights, a friend who isn’t feeling good or is stressed from her kids, husband, or just life in general.
“Can you pray for me?” Sure!
“Are you having a bad day? Let me pray for you.”
Sometimes we use prayer more as a crutch rather than the powerful, effective direct line to God that it is.
God hears our prayers, every single one. And He meets with us where we pray.
Luke tells us that Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, had no children in their old age because she was barren.
Can you imagine how often Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a child? How many years and tears they shared, longing for God to bless them with an heir?
Likely, so many that they had given up hope it would ever happen.
Daily, Zechariah was surrounded by the beautiful house of God, but really, how often did God actually show up and TALK to anyone of the priests? Why would that day be different than any other time before? Why would God answer any of his prayers?
But, in the moment of God’s divine lot, while Zachariah was in front of the altar of fragrant incense, God met with him where he prayed.
“And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. …But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.” (Luke 1:11-15)
To the people of God, the altar of incense was very personal because this is where their prayers were heard, and God met with them.
The smoke of the incense rose into the air and filled the sanctuary with its sweet fragrance, flowing past the veil to the Most Holy place above the mercy seat over the ark of Testimony where God met with His people.
Listen to this prayer of David from Psalm 141:1-2, “O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!”
The altar of incense was the access door to heaven, and the priest was the intercessor.
Through the morning and evening service of the priest, the prayers of the people reached God and were heard.
All of their praises, and petitions, desires, wishes, and confessions were sent up through the purified smoke of the incense.
Lucado says, “that the prayers of the Bible can be distilled into one. The result is a simple, easy-to-remember, pocket-size prayer:
Father,
You are good.
I need your help. Heal me and forgive me.
They need help.
Thank you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer is not a privilege for the pious, not the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child.
My friend, he wants to talk with you. Even now, as you read these words, he taps at the door. Open it. Welcome him in. Let the conversation begin.”
When we pray and meet with God, He is good to answer our prayers.
The angel Gabriel says to Zechariah of his son John, “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16-17)
In the study guide to Before Amen, Lucado says that “into our complex world, Jesus calls us to prayer. His invitation is gentle and quite simple. Be honest. Be yourself. There are not a lot of rules. You don’t need ninety million articles and videos to learn to pray. Just talk with your heavenly Father and be confident that he hears you, he loves you, and he is good.”
From God’s goodness, and eternal plan, he heard the prayer of Zechariah and Elizabeth, He met with Zechariah at the altar, and He answered their prayer.
He could have done it differently, chosen another relative of Mary’s, or sent Elijah himself to prophesy about the coming savior, but He waited.
He waited until the moment in time when He could powerfully answer the prayer of a barren couple, a priest who would stand in front of the altar of incense, an aged woman who longed to hold a son of her own.
He answered their prayer and composed a story that only God could have orchestrated.
“Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord has shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, ‘No; he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘None of your relatives is called by this name.’ And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they all wondered.” (Luke 1:57-63)
God is good!
Discussion:
Tell about a person in your life who models passionate and natural prayer. What drives that person to pray? What have you learned by observing his or her intimate communication with God?
Reflection:
What experiences have caused me to question God’s goodness and wonder if he really cares about me or hears my prayers? How can I talk with God about these specific things that keep me from praying with confidence?
Action:
Start your day with a Pocket-Sized Prayer
For the next week, start each day lifting up this simple prayer. Commit it to memory.
Father,
You are good.
I need help.
They need help.
Thank you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Say this prayer out loud. Emphasize one line at a time, and then build on that line.
When you pray, “I need help,” linger there and talk with your Father about a few areas of your life where you really do need help.
When you pray the words, “Thank you,” let God know about some of the things he has done that make you smile and bring joy to your heart.
Each day, let this prayer become a simple tool to express your heart to the One who loves you most and wants you to know that he is a trustworthy and good Father.