GOD: DO YOU HAVE TIME

When it comes to the topic of prayer, I am 100 percent certain you could have found a better speaker than
me. Please, dont ask me how I know. But, I am here because of advice a dear friend of mine gave to
another.
Karl Green worked many years at Bosch-Rexroth, and he was one of the leaders of Parkview Christian
Church in Wooster. He and his wife, Nancy, were among a small group of families who put their houses
and their assets on the line so Parkview could buy a bigger building they desperately needed.
Green was one of those rock, solid Christians who you could always depend on to be a straight shooter
and give you godly, biblical advice. One time at church, another friend was asked if he wanted to say a
prayer; I am not sure if it was for the class or before the congregation. He politely declined. Karl caught up
with him and said, You never want to turn down an opportunity to pray.
So, when Earl asked me if I would speak at this gathering on the National Day of Prayer, I did not
hesitate. I imagine if Karl were still here, he would have told me never to turn down an opportunity to
speak about prayer. So, I am here today. God, in his sovereignty, moved Earl sufficiently enough to
extend an invitation, and moved me enough to say yes.
As for why me, now? I dont know. Is it so that I may impart some profound wisdom on the power and
importance of prayer? While that might be possible, I am not sure it is likely. It seems more plausible God
wanted me to be here with you this morning so that I would look at prayer anew and discover again why it
is so important and how it is so powerful.
My prayers are like my memory: Good, but short. I dont have long, beautiful prayers. I do not have a
prayer strategy, like Sunday we pray for the church, Monday we pray for family, Tuesday we pray for
friends, Wednesday we pray for coworkers, Thursday we pray for missionaries, Friday we pray for our
elected officials, and Saturday we pray for spiritual growth.
My prayers focus more on giving thanks than anything else. God, thank you for my family. Thank you for
my wife. Thank you for my job. Thank you for my food. Thank you for providing for me. Thank you for
loving me. Thank you for saving me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My grandmother, Gracie, was the first generation in her family to be born in the United States. Her
parents came from Italy. She grew up during The Depression. She never wanted to owe anyone anything.
She always paid her way. Sometimes, I can be like that. I dont want to ask God for anything. I will pray
and ask for things for you, but I am slow when it comes to me.
When you hear what I have to say next, you will probably think, Earl, why in the world did you think
Bobby would be a good person to speak on this National Day of Prayer? Well, here is the confession: I
dont get excited about the Christmas and Easter holidays. I am a Steady Eddie; I am on an even keel 52
weeks a year. At our church, we participate in communion every Sunday, so Christs birth, life, ministry,
death, burial, resurrection and ascension are a part of my life and my worship every week of the year.
While my spiritual life is on the same plane throughout the year, I think these holy days are good things to
call our attention to what is important. This National Day of Prayer is a good thing to get us to focus on
prayer.
My message this morning is titled, God, do you have time to talk. The title is structured in such a way as
it can be viewed from at least two different perspectives. One is God approaching us and asking, Do you
have time to talk? The focus here is on Gods desire for his people to pray to him, to speak to him, to
commune with him.

There is a second way we could look at this: We approach the throne and ask, God, do you have time to
talk? The focus here is on us recognizing our need to seek out God and pour out our hearts to him and
communicate to him just how much we need him.
The verse serving as a highlight of this morning is from the first part of Isaiah 45:19, I publicly proclaim
bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel
to seek me if I could not be found.
One of the mysteries of life is why did God create humanity? What was God, who is perfect, lacking? He
didnt have to create us. The Bible tells us God is love. I think he wanted to create something to love, and
have something he created love him. The Creator of the universe desired to have a relationship with you.
You are important to God. People are important to God. In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve eat from the
tree God said not to, we read about God is searching for them in the gardenin the cool of the day. He
desires to be with them.
Prayer, at its essence, is not something mysterious. It is communication between us and God. It is us
talking to God. I remember when I was a member at Port Orange Christian Church in Florida. I was
talking with my mentor in the faith, and I told him I had difficulty praying in public. In his wisdom, he told
me to forget about everyone in the congregation, and just talk to God. That is what prayer is, us talking to
God, one-on-one.
If prayer is this direct form of communication, then it stands to reason this meeting will reflect our
personalities. A lot of times, humor comes through my prayers. I will say things like, God, thank you for
this food, which we know has no calories. And other things. People might say I am being disrespectful to
God, but this is who I am. I am in my 50s, but I am a kid at heart. I love having fun, pulling jokes and
laughing. And this comes through in my prayers, whether it is at church before the Sunday School class,
before the entire congregation, with family, with friends, with my wife.
I remember when I decided to move to Cincinnati to study at Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary. I had
been studying computer programming, marketing, history and journalism at Daytona State University and
the University of Central Florida. I was following a friend up there. We were going to share an apartment.
I asked him, When I get up there, are we going to do devotions together? He said something like, We
can, but if you really want to develop a relationship with someone, you have to do it one-on-one.
During these National Day of Prayer events, the focus tends to be on praying for our country and our
leaders. This is a good thing. But, let me encourage you to just pray. Are you taking time daily to pray?
Are you praying for your spouse? your children? your family? your coworkers? your church? your
ministers? your volunteers? your youth? your country? our leaders? All of these are wonderful things, but
make sure you are praying.
Jesus would routinely break away from his disciples to be along with God, one on one, to get reconnect,
to get recharged. So, it is good to pray for all of those things, but make sure you pray for yourself so you
can be the person God designed you to be and accomplish what he created you for. There is no one else
quite like you. Your fingerprints and your DNA have no match in the universe; there is only one of you,
and God has called you to do something. Do you know what it is?
If not, then may I suggest you break away from the pack, find a solitary place, where you and your Maker
can talk.
This is a National Day of Prayer, and we are going to pray. I am going to lead us in what is called a guided
or directed prayer, I will give you some subjects in which to pray and then all of us will lift up silent prayers
to God.
Let us pray:

God, you have assembled us here at this time for the National Day of Prayer, and right now we want to
pray for our nation ... that it would be a godly country and our leaders will seek your guidance ... hear our
prayers ...
Our father, if a nation is going to be a godly one, it needs godly families, the most basic societal unit. We
now focus on families .... hear our prayers ...
Our families can sometimes be torn apart because of drugs and alcohol, our God in heaven, hear our
prayers as we plead with you to help our loved ones battling addictions ...
Dear God, when we go astray, there are multitudes of problems. There are breakdowns in families and in
our communities and in our countries ... we have first responders, like law enforcement, firefighters and
emergency medical personnel, and the military who are asked to pick up the pieces, we want to pray now
for the men and women who protect our rights and our freedom .... hear our prayers ...
Father, when we sin, we know we break your heart and we reflect poorly on your son, Jesus, your Holy
Spirit and your church. Help us to be the people you need us to be ... hear our prayers as we pray for
our congregations and ourselves ...