Today's message is entitled "Five Kinds of Prayer". Over the years I'm sure many of us, perhaps most of us, even all of us, have heard sermons on prayer: prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of supplication (asking God for something), intercessory prayers (praying for others); and we've heard messages that included subjects such as the frequency of prayer, when to pray, where to pray and how to pray. I'm sure that somewhere along the way we've come across how often to pray and we've looked at the example of Daniel in Daniel 6:10. This is the story of a young man who was taken captive off to Babylon and king Darius picks Daniel as one of his rulers and then wicked men plot to destroy Daniel. Then without realizing it the king makes a law forbidding anyone to worship the true God..they can only worship the king. Of course then the enemies of Daniel point out what he's doing and he gets thrown into the lion's den. On another occasion he says he's praying three times a day (Daniel 6:10). We hear that and things like that and of course we also hear about praying without ceasing. I'll let you know when we start numbering, I'm just giving a few of the comments, the things we normally hear about. So we're to pray without ceasing; we're to give thanks. 1 Thes. 5:16 "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Having then that prayerful approach and that prayerful attachment to life, we're supposed to be especially prayerful as the end time approaches. Mark 13:32 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father." Verse 33 "Take heed, watch and pray for you do not know when the time is." This is Jesus Christ telling us we don't know when it is, but we should watch and we should pray. So we need to have that prayerful attitude, that prayerful habit as we approach this end time. You may have heard about praying together, which is also important. Acts 1:14 "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers." The early church had that opportunity and they prayed together.

The book of Matthew records an excellent guide on how to pray; Christ Jesus gave us that guide. Many of us have memorized this model prayer. It's often called the "Lord's Prayer". From this we are able to understand the priorities, what to be thankful for, how we can relate to God. Matt. 6:9 "In this manner therefore pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name', we could go through the model prayer; that's not my focus today. It is a wonderful outline for our prayers, but we must keep in mind that this is a model prayer that is an outline. In our daily conversation with God, we must relate what's on our minds and hearts. We're not to say the same exact prayer over and over again. Just prior to the model prayer, what did Christ say when He gave us the instructions? Matt. 6:7 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think they will be heard for their many words." Saying the same thing over and over again is called a vain repetition; we're to be specific with our prayers and use our prayers as true conversation with God.

I was very new in the church many years ago and I was really inquiring of the pastor as to how to pray; I was unschooled in this area. 'What do you do and how do you do it?' 'How do you learn how?' I was having difficulty knowing how to approach this. He said, 'If you have difficulty talking to God, then you should let God talk to you and read the scriptures and develop an understanding of how to talk to God." That was some advice I had gotten these many years ago. Good advice is sometimes where you find it. There's a children's book called "I Can Pray to God" by Sandra Brooks , Shirley Beegle, and Lois Axeman. It's a 1994 book and it's a children's book, one of those little cardboard covers..with the cardboard covers and thick pages so they can't tear it easily. It is still available, by the way, on Amazon for one cent plus freight, so for about four bucks you can have one delivered to your door. I'm not selling for Amazon, but you can buy it where you wish. I saw this book many years ago and what it contains are instructions for a child on how to remember what to pray about or how to pray; not to say that this is the 'end all', 'be all' book but it gives us a guide. We are to be like little children and we are little children to God, so we can follow these instructions and just like teaching little children, we can learn to pray. There are five kinds of prayer in this little children's book. On the front of the book, as I recall, there is a picture of 'praying hands', where the hands are together. You may have seen that famous painting of the 'praying hands' that's often on hospital walls and such places. When our hands are folded together, as we commonly do in prayer, the finger closest to us is our thumb.

Point 1: THE THUMB IS A REMINDER TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE CLOSEST TO US. This could include family or friends or neighbors. These are the people who are on our mind the most. They may need encouragement, they may need protection, or special blessings or perhaps they have special needs. We know that God can certainly attend to those needs. Last week we heard about Hannah and her gratitude to God for the blessing of a son, a son whose life she dedicated to the service of God. We read the story of Hannah in the book of First Samuel. We can only imagine how often she prayed, first for her firstborn son, that he would even exist and then later her heart-felt prayers for her little boy, Samuel as he grew up. Then we read where people thought perhaps she was drinking because her mouth was moving but they didn't hear any words coming out while she was praying. Who is closest to you: your family members, your father, your mother or your grandchildren or children, your dearest friend, your kindly neighbors? Those who are closest to us are the ones who share our joys and our sorrows, they share our triumphs and our struggles. 1 Tim. 2:1 (This is the apostle Paul writing to his helper Timothy.) "I exhort therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men." Certainly those close to us are included in the 'all men' or 'all people' category. We are to pray for them, to make intercessory prayer, give thanks, be thankful for them on their behalf when joyous things happen. Give supplications for them to have their needs filled.

Last week I mentioned that I was aware of a fella who was going through great trials, that his wife not being a church member, had filed for divorce and he had no place to live, no place to stay and he had less than twenty bucks in his pocket and had only the front of his pickup cab to sleep in. I got a call the other day that said (I'll put it in Southern language), "Y'all ain't never gonna believe this." He said, "I stumbled across someone who I used to work with, a retired lady and her husband. They happened to have a mobile home that was unoccupied and they were pleased if some handyman would come around and help them fix their place, they would offer it just to take care of the utilities." As it came along, they gave him a place to stay, but he didn't have enough gas money to get there or he said he didn't have enough to get home. They said not to worry about it, they'd take care of that.. it's not a problem. He got there and they took care of his gas and gave him a hundred dollar bill and told him about the job opening at a local place and pointed the direction to him. That all happened for a guy who had just a few dollars in his pocket..a very quick turnaround. I imagine it wasn't any fun sleeping in his truck for a few days, but life can turn around in a very big hurry. I have known this fella for a long time, so it is very pleasant to hear that there are circumstances allowing him to get back on his feet.

So, our thumb is closest to us, it's a reminder that we carry with us all day, every day; day and night, to pray for those who are closest to us.

Secondly, when our hands are folded together in prayer, the next closest finger is our forefinger and it is used often to point the way. Point 2: OUR FOREFINGER IS A REMINDER FOR US TO PRAY FOR THE ONES WHO POINT THE WAY, such as our pastor, or the counsel of elders, or church administrators. 2 Thes.3:1 "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you." Paul asked the brethren to pray for him and those who were his traveling companions because they needed the prayers. As we read on in the life of Paul and all the things he went through while he was preaching the gospel, we see an astounding list of difficulties that he was facing..he needed their prayers. We see again where Paul asked a congregation, a different congregation, in Colossae to pray for him: Col. 4:2 "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving," Verse 3 "meanwhile, praying also for us, that God would open us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains," Verse 4 "that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak." Here's an apostle that God has sent out (apostle means 'to go' or 'sent out one') and the first thing he asks for the congregation to do is to continue earnestly in prayer and to be vigilant in it, with thanksgiving. He doesn't say 'woe is me', 'poor old little old me'..the man was in CHAINS! After telling them to continue in prayer, then he says, 'Oh, and another thing, pray for us, too that God would open the door.' He didn't say, 'Oh! I have chains on at this point.' He asked them to pray that God would open a door to preach the gospel, to speak the mystery of Christ. Then he says he's in chains, in other words, he's in chains because he's preaching the gospel..so first came the Thanksgiving and then praying for an open door and then 'oh, yes, by the way..I'm in chains.' He is asking for prayer so that he may get out and preach the gospel, not so he can feel better or enjoy a different diet (I'm sure jail food isn't all that good) or different sleeping conditions. His priorities were first to give thanks and that the gospel continue to be preached. When our hands are folded together in prayer, that second finger is our forefinger, which reminds us to pray for those who point the way in our lives.

Then, we come to the third finger that's on our hand. POINT 3: OUR TALLEST FINGER, THE THIRD FINGER IS A REMINDER TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THE RULE OVER US. In America we don't have a monarchy or a dictatorship, we have what we call 'the rule of law', which is established by our national constitution. The United States is unique in the history of the world for having a working representative government charged with operating under the rule of law. Just as we're all equal before God, we're all equal in the eyes of the rule of law in America, in theory. So, it's critical that the rule of law be followed or our country could fall into tyranny or anarchy. It's our responsibility to pray that the rule of law be followed, because that you see, has the rule over us. Just as the law of God defines our relationship with God, so we should pray that the leaders in our country will follow the rule of law in our nation . 1 Tim. 2:1 "I exhort you, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men," Verse 2 "for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." Wouldn't that be wonderful if we didn't have oppressive governments and that we could live a life that is quiet and peaceable in all godliness and honesty? In other words, not loud, warlike, ungodly, and dishonest. We ought to pray that the rule of law is followed in our country, just as we follow God's law and that mankind also learn to follow God's law.

You know the story of Esther; there's an entire book in the Bible about the story of Esther..a Jewish girl who was chosen to be the new queen of Persia and selected to be the new wife of king Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus is given as the name of the king of Persia in the book of Esther. The nineteenth century Bible commentaries identify him as Xerxes the First of Persia. The Greek version of the Bible, the Septuagint calls him Artaxerxes, so you may hear different names for this same king. When a high government official named Haman persuaded the king to condemn the Jews, Esther was called upon by her cousin to speak up. The king was condemning the Jews, but he didn't realize his wife was a Jew and she may have been subject to the same suffering and fate that would occur to all of the other Jews. Esther 4:14 "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's household will perish. Yet who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Our nation is under great trials and is having difficulty following the rule of law; we have a responsibility to pray for it in such a time as this.. for the well being of God's people, for the work of God that we're all called to accomplish in his name and that we may continue to accomplish the work of God until that time when all is fulfilled. The third finger, the tallest is to remind us to pray for those who have the rule over us.

Point 4: THE FOURTH FINGER, OUR RING FINGER, OUR WEAKEST FINGER, REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR THE WEAKEST ONES AMONG US. James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." The weakest among us is certainly not limited to the orphans and the widows, but is certainly a responsibility we have for those people who may need help because of their circumstances. We can't always be there physically to fill those needs, but we can ask God to intervene and fill those needs for them. We can hear what Jesus Christ says we should do. Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then He will sit on the throne of his glory. Verse 32 "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats." Verse 33 "He will set the sheep on his right hand and put the goats on his left." Verse 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come you who are blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world." Verse 35 "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in." Verse 36 "I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Matthew 25:44 "They also will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Verse 45 "Then He will answer to them saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me.'" Even if we cannot be physically there to physically help others, we can pray for them and we can use the power of prayer to lift them up. So, the fourth finger is our weakest finger to remind us to pray for the weakest ones among us.

The apostle Paul wrote of his prayers for those to whom he was ministering. 1 Thes.1:2 "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers." You see, the apostle Paul was praying for that congregation and the first thing he did was to give thanks. They needed his prayer, he was concerned for them and he was praying, obviously for their weaknesses that they might be strengthened. 1 Tim. 2:1 "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men," We mentioned that earlier; but especially for those who are weak among us.

Point 5: THE FIFTH KIND OF PRAYER THAT WE CARRY AS A REMINDER ON OUR FIFTH FINGER, THE LITTLE FINGER ON OUR HAND, IS A REMINDER TO PRAY FOR OURSELVES.

It's not wrong to pray for yourself, in fact it's necessary. Sometimes I hear people feeling guilty about praying for themselves and I'm reminded about that saying that 'praying for me, me, me all the time is really quite self-centered'. Naturally, we pray and convey our concerns to God, but we don't want to be so self-absorbed that we exclude praying for others; but there's nothing wrong with asking God to fill our own needs and even our desires. This next scripture is about what Jesus was saying about the end time and the people in the country of Judah and what they were to do when they are told to flee. Matthew 24:20 "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.." Why should it matter? They are praying for their own self interest, they're praying that life would not be any more difficult than it needed to be. Christ told them directly, 'Pray your flight..' when you're told to flee to the hills that it not be at a time when it's difficult for you. There are some verses in John that we read during Passover, and it's interesting that we are exhorted during the Passover service as we go through these verses, and we read what Christ said in the New Testament Passover, following that meal. John 14:13 "And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son." That's a pretty big thing 'whatever you ask in my name I will do', of course, it has to be within the will of God. We follow this on to the next verse. Verse 14 "And if you ask anything in my name I will do it." John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain--that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give you." If we ask for the appropriate thing to be able to bear fruit (bearing fruit means displaying the love of God and doing the will of God and the work of God), God is going to give it to us. If we continue on to the next chapter, we'll hear that same theme mentioned again. John 16:23 "..most assuredly I say to you, whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you." Verse 24 "Up until now you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full." Isn't that nice that we can have that joy when those opportunities come before us and we can seek the will of God and He answers those prayers in such a way that it is encouraging to us.

King David was unafraid to pray to God for deliverance from evil as we heard in the first split sermon; he was certainly faced with plenty of evil and plenty of difficult circumstances. Psalm 140:1 "Deliver me, O Lord from evil men, preserve me from violent men," How many times have we prayed for something similar? It's okay to pray for yourself, to ask for protection from evil people, from violent people, from difficult circumstances. God expects us to pray for our needs and accordingly we must relate to him on a daily basis. While our entire prayer life does not simply revolve around our own needs, we need not feel guilty about asking God for his help. One we quote from time to time is in regard to our health that we read in James 5:14 "Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with the oil in the name of the Lord" ( We could probably quote this by heart.) Verse 15 "and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up; but if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." The people who are sick, and that could mean physically or it could mean spiritually are asked specifically to pray for themselves and call for the elders and ask for an anointing, to ask for God's help. It's not wrong to ask for help in this manner.

Our hands have five fingers as reminders of how to break down our prayers and be specific in what we pray for each day. We're admonished that we are to be active in the end times. We observe the conditions prior to the return of Jesus Christ and I found this verse interesting in the context of five things to pray for that we carry around with us as a reminder. Zephaniah 3:16 "On that day" ..it is talking about Christ's return.."they will say to Jerusalem, do not fear, O Zion, do not let your hands hang limp." That's interesting; we carry these reminders with us, these five fingers on this hand and we're told 'don't let your hands hang limp', in other words, use them. Use them as a reminder, use that opportunity. We are to be thankful for the return of Christ and the ushering in of God's Kingdom: a time of restoration, peace, and beauty. We're also told that we must do what we can while we can still do it. Ecc. 9:10 "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." We read this especially at funerals, but it is applicable at any time.

We carry around these five fingers on our hand as a reminder that we should pray and follow the model prayer and we have the reminders along the way that we must do it while we can because there may come a time when we cannot, because there isn't that opportunity in the grave.

What if we're still uncertain about our ability to pray and we're unsteady about our prayer life? Let's look to the story related by Matthew about the life of Christ. There was a struggle going on with the Pharisees making accusations against Christ: Matthew 12:10 "and, behold, there was a man who had a withered hand and they asked him saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse him." Verse 11 "And then He (Christ) said to them, 'What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out?'" Verse 12 "Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Verse 13 "Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand' and he stretched it out and it was restored as whole as the other." You see, God can restore our hands even if they're withered and have lack of use. By 'exercising' our hands in prayer, we can strengthen our relationship with God and renew our enthusiasm for the work of the church..as we seek to follow God's instructions for our lives.

A fella by the name of Job in the book of Job will follow up on these instructions. Job 4:2 "If one attempts a word with You, will You become weary?" (Job is speaking to God)" But who can withhold himself from speaking?" Verse 3 "Surely, You have instructed many, and you've strengthened weak hands." Verse 4 "Your word has upheld him who is stumbling and You have strengthened the feeble knees." Yes, God can give us the strength in our hands and wherever else we need it to be able to strengthen our prayer lives. We can turn to the book of Isaiah for the yearning of people who appreciate the coming Kingdom of God and are thankful for the deliverance by God from a world of evil. There is an important comment by Isaiah about how important it is to follow God's way. (This chapter is about the ushering in of the Kingdom of God.) Isa. 49:16 "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hand" (that meant it was close to them, God's will, God's way was with them all the time; it was right there).

The children's book "I Can Pray to God", although I can't say that it was biblically inspired, is certainly a method or manner for us to have a very human reminder that points us to another prayer guide, our hands..the hands that we carry with us all day, every day. We can pray while we're in bed, when we rise up, in any room of the house, in the car, at work, or at school; we can pray at a store, or on an airplane (maybe especially on an airplane). Just as our hands are with us at all times, so we have a constant reminder of our relationship with God and we can use our hands to remind us of the constancy of prayer and what we can pray to God about.

Our hands with five fingers remind us what to pray for:

     1. OUR THUMBS, WHICH ARE CLOSEST TO US, TO PRAY FOR THOSE CLOSEST TO US.

     2. OUR POINTER FINGER REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO POINT THE WAY FOR OUR LIVES.

     3. OUR TALLEST FINGER REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THE RULE OVER US THAT THEY MIGHT FOLLOW GOD'S LAWS.

     4. OUR WEAKEST FINGER REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE WEAK AMONG US, TO GIVE THEM COMFORT AND STRENGTH AND HEALING.

     5. OUR SMALLEST FINGER REMINDS US TO PRAY FOR OURSELVES.

For we cannot be in the position to help others if we do not take care of ourselves, the special temple of God's Spirit that we are allowed to care for in this life.

So, whatever our hand finds to do, let's do it with our might that we might be pleasing in the sight of God.