Never Too Busy to Pray: Redeem the Time Before It Runs Out

Sermon outline

Time is short and precious, and prayer is how you redeem it, so make prayer a habit that comes first, whether you are struggling or successful.

1. Redeem the time

   It is good to be loud and charismatic, but sometimes you need to be sober-minded, because today's decisions determine tomorrow's outcome and foolish choices cost time and money. If you work out the years you probably have left, you see that you do not have much time to play with. Prayer is one of the ways to redeem the time, because God gives ideas and strategies that let you do in three years what would take others ten, at a fraction of the cost, and He shows you which distractions and relationships are stealing your time.

   Illustration: You look at your children and they were born yesterday, now they are grown; you wonder where the grey hair came from and what happened to your six-pack.

   “All of your decisions today will determine tomorrow's outcome.”

   • Ephesians 5:16
   • Psalm 91:16
   • Psalm 90:10
   • Proverbs 8:12

2. Daniel prayed as he did aforetime

   When Daniel knew the decree had been signed, he knelt three times a day with his windows open towards Jerusalem and prayed 'as he did aforetime', which shows prayer was his habit, not a reaction to trouble. Prayer is an art, and the more you pray the more skilful you become. He clarifies that he has never said 'don't pray'; he said praying in unbelief wastes your time, so pray according to the Word and in faith.

   “The more you pray, the more skillful you'll become in prayer.”

   • Daniel 6:10

3. Principle number one: prayer is very important

   Prayer must be in your marrow and bones: more important than education, work, eating or socialising. Both private and corporate prayer matter, and prayer should be the first thing you do each morning before any business. Prayer is a dialogue in which you talk to God and He talks to you, so you can take instructions from your Lord. Praying does not lose you time; God multiplies your minutes and gives you solutions when others are stuck.

   Illustration: At work, faced with a problem nobody can solve, the spirit of wisdom comes on the believer who has prayed, and what was stuck in the system comes unstuck.

   “When you pray, you don't lose much precious time. When you pray, you actually gain valuable time.”

4. Principle number two: no one is ever too busy, too blessed or too successful to pray

   People cry out to God when they are poor and unemployed, but once the car, house and clothes improve they forget the One who brought them out of Lo Debar. Being too busy is an excuse you are telling God, not the pastor. Prayer is to a Christian what oxygen is to the body, and your consistency is a testimony to those watching you. Daniel was prime minister, the busiest and most powerful of men, yet he prayed three times a day.

   Illustration: The unsaved neighbour you witnessed to waits to see how long you last, and two years later sees you washing your car on a Sunday morning because of 'politics in the church'.

   “Prayer to a Christian is like oxygen to a living human being.”

   • 2 Samuel 9:4-5
   • 2 Corinthians 3:2

5. Principle number three: prayer is the source of power and protection

   When you pray, power comes on your life and protection surrounds your family, your travel and your home. When Jesus prayed, heaven opened over Him, and a praying believer with a sincere heart lives under an open heaven with an open audience with God. Daniel prayed and the lions became as tame as kittens, so he prophesies that every circumstance that came to devour them will become tame and scatter.

   Illustration: A woman in the church who lives in Pinetown told them that on one night every house in her road was broken into except hers, and her neighbours said, 'We thought so, because you're a Christian.'

   “Prayer opens the heaven to you as a child of God.”

   • Luke 3:21
   • Daniel 6:22

6. Taste and see: slay your small Goliaths and stop complaining

   Prophesying and decreeing are part of praying. Woken that morning by 'O taste and see that the Lord is good', he says prayer is where you taste of the Lord. Do not fear your challenges: every bill is an uncircumcised Philistine to be slain, and if you cannot get over the ten thousand, God cannot trust you with the hundred thousand. Murmuring and complaining kept Israel back, so conquer where you are and let your capacity grow, because the supply stops when the vessels run out.

   Illustration: When the church started, its first tithe was R74 and spending R2,000 felt enormous; he has since learned to handle far larger amounts. And when he was complaining recently, the Lord asked him, 'Did you ask me yet?', and told him to keep quiet.

   “Every financial thing that faces you is a Goliath that needs to be slayed.”

   • Psalm 34:8
   • 1 Samuel 17:26
   • 1 Samuel 17:40
   • Numbers 21:6
   • 2 Kings 4:6