Why do we begin with prayer?
Adrian Thornton

I was reading this week about the fear of public speaking. Around 75% of people don’t like it, and for 30–40% it’s a genuine, disabling fear. What struck me is that it’s not really about the speaking. It’s about being seen, evaluated, and possibly rejected by a group. It’s the overload of self-monitoring (What do I look like? What are they thinking? Am I doing this right?).

And I realised that this same dynamic often plays out in church when we invite people to come and pray at the start of the service.

This message is not about forcing anyone into the spotlight. It’s about asking: Why don’t we come and pray? Is it because we are worried about what others will think? Because if that’s the case, we need to let that go. No one is assessing you. We are a family, seeking God together.

Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). We have a willingness to pray, but fear and self-consciousness often hold us back.

In Luke 11, Jesus gives His disciples a pattern, a parable, and a promise related to prayer. The promise is clear: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

That is why we start our services with prayer. Because those who ask receive. Those who seek find. Those who knock see doors opened.

Ask
If we don’t ask, we don’t get. The man in Jesus’ parable could have waited until morning, but he had what Jesus calls shameless audacity. That is, a lack of sensitivity to what is proper. He was willing to disturb the order because of the need.

Prayer is that kind of audacity. It’s saying, I’m not satisfied with the way things are. I’m asking God for healing. I’m asking for salvation. I’m asking for a breakthrough.

Seek
Seeking is about discovering God’s will, not just presenting Him with ours. Prayer is not inviting God into our plans; it is surrendering to His.

Jesus sought the Father before choosing the twelve. We seek God through His Word, through humility, through listening. As Philippians 2 says, it is God who works in us to will and to act according to His purpose. As we seek, He shapes our desires.

Knock
There is resistance in prayer. The man kept knocking because his friend wouldn’t get up to open the gate, but eventually he did. Elijah kept praying for rain. Moses kept returning to Pharaoh. A praying church keeps knocking.

Paul reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6). Prayer is spiritual endurance. It is patient persistence until the door opens.

So why do we start with prayer?

Because we want to see God move. And if we are not willing to ask, seek, and knock, we are not ready for Him to.