Discipleship - Learning to Pray
Notes
Transcript
What is one of the most important things we can do as Christians? We can think of all the “good things”, tithe, evangelize, be faithful to attend service, be a “good” person, treat others well, and we can go on and on. But in reality, should one of the most important things we do not be prayer? As I have said before, communication is a critical trait that everyone needs to master. If we think about it, an effective communicator has many traits - they are a good listener, concise (direct and clear), confident, observant, appreciative, polite, organized, sincere, respectful, consistent, reliable, reflective, the list can go on and on. There is something about good communication that is, well, good. You feel like all bases have been covered, you feel knowledgeable and confident. You feel like you know what is going on, correct? Without communication, it would be hard for us to do many of our everyday things.
I have used this as an example before, could you imagine trying to be a family without communicating? Spouses don’t speak, kids don’t speak, no one communicates their daily plans or schedules. How effective is that family? Think of not communicating at work. You don’t know what anyone’s schedules are, you don’t know when you have meetings, don’t know what the expectations of the boss are. How effective would this company be? So, if communicating is so important in every day life…why do we view communicating with God so differently?
I challenge you to do this: look at your cell phone list of calls this week and see who you called, how many times, and for how long… Now, think back to to our communication with God this week. Have we prayed? How many times? How long? Does anyone see a problem? In all reality, shouldn’t our prayer life rank higher than talking to our friends and family? When we are weak, anxious, sick, worried, all the world’s weight on your shoulders, should we not be lifting up our concerns in prayer?
Prayer is communication with God that includes petition, entreaty (urgent request), supplication (request for help/mercy), thanksgiving, praise, hymns, and lament (mourning/sorrow). [For those of us that watched the UT / Alabama game last night know a thing or two about prayer, right?]
How would the struggles in our lives change if we had true meaningful communication with our Heavenly Father? But, maybe we need to look again at what meaningful communication looks like, and what better way than to look at the example of Jesus.
35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
He got away with the Father at a time when others were not awake, went where no one else was, and communicated with the Father.
16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Jesus often separated Himself from everyone and everything around so He would not be distracted.
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
He prayed consistently, constantly, fervently, and in private. But HOW did He pray? Thankfully, Jesus gave an example in the Lord’s Prayer, or the Model Prayer.
Warning
Warning
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus gave a warning to begin with, before He laid out the example of prayer. He warns of giving and praying, just to be seen or heard. He was speaking of the example of the Pharisees’ in their almsgiving (tithes & offerings). They did so just to draw attention to themselves, not that they were concerned about giving to the needy, but trying to show everyone how righteous they were. Jesus goes on to tell us that we should not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Giving should be done in secret so that the giver forgets what they gave and others don’t know what they gave in the beginning.
Jesus then switches to the practice of prayer - and the spectacle the Pharisees put on to perform their prayers in public. Instead of making it a secret petition to God, the Pharisees had turned prayer into a one-act-play for the entertainment of those who saw it. Again, it was to point out just how righteous they were compared to everyone else. Jesus condemned their flowery prayers meant to tickle the ears of those around, stir their hearts with their oratory spectacle, and draw attention NOT ON GOD, but on themselves. He condemned these practices and wanted to correct this problem of the heart before giving the model prayer as an example for all to hear, know, and use.
Model Prayer
Model Prayer
9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Our Father - Jesus starts off with the realigning of our heart and mind with who it is we are speaking to. It focuses on praying to honor God, and puts us out of the focus. Too often, we focus on selfish, materialistic things to tickle our own ears and flutter our own hearts instead of placing the emphasis on God. It perverts prayer, it is using the name of the Lord in vain. Jesus wanted us to place the focus off ourselves and onto the Father which brings Him honor and glory.
Who Is In Heaven - Jesus reminds us that God isn’t just the good friend down the road. He is not a family member in the next town or state. God, the Father, is seated in heaven. It realigns our heart with where He is, and takes the focus of the worldly things and places the focus back where it should be, heaven.
Hallowed Be Thy Name - what does it mean when something is hallowed? There is reverence, it is set aside as holy - so in using these words Jesus reminds us that the name of God is holy, and should be used in reverence.
This world uses God’s name in every sense but holiness and reverence, and as a result we don’t think of His name as such. We hear bad news, and we use His name “Oh God”. We see something we don’t like, and we use His name “Oh God”. Something goes wrong and we use His name in disgust “Oh God”. We smack our thumb with a hammer, or a wrench slips and we scrape our knuckles, and we use His name in vain again. I think everyone gets the idea of just how irreverent we use the name of God today. What Jesus wanted was to re-focus us on the holy name of our Creator.
But here is something to think about, even though we as Christians may cringe when we hear God’s name used in vain, do we hold His name at the level of respect He deserves? John MacArthur argues “Indifference and lack of respect due His name from those who love Him may be just as heinous a sin.” as blatantly taking God’s name in vain. As believers, we must remember we exist to bring God honor, praise, and glory and with such even our prayer should be centered on those basic principles. Jesus points out to us that even prayer is recognizing God in His majestic glory, and our submission to it. Everything we ask must ultimately be weighed against the will of God. By reigning in our egos and remembering the Holy name in which we pray puts us back into the correct frame of mind in prayer and allows us to show Him the honor deserved.
Your Kingdom Come - We are under the authority of God and belong to His Kingdom as believers. As I said last week, it should worry us that we have governmental leaders that make statements and pass laws that are contrary to God and support an anti-Christian agenda. While we reside in this world, we are not OF this world. Jesus reminds Pilate of this in John 18:36
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Instead, we are to be about the Father’s Work, and always thinking of His Kingdom. You see, we have one mission, to lead people destined to an eternity in hell to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ so they can enjoy an eternity in heaven. If they never knew Jesus as their personal Savior, this cannot be accomplished. It puts again the emphasis on us to tell everyone we come in contact with about the love of Jesus Christ and the salvation offered through the belief in His death, burial, and resurrection. We as a nation have taken our eyes off “YOUR KINGDOM COME”, but we have a promise that our government may not place emphasis on God any more BUT we should still be about the Father’s business.
Your Will Be Done - One of the dilemmas Christians have debated for centuries, is whether God accomplishes His will regardless if we pray or don’t pray. When we pray sincerely and persistently as Christ has taught us—can our will override God’s? When we don’t pray does His will fail? The plain fact is none of us can comprehend precisely how prayer functions in the infinite mind and plan of God. What seems like a hopeless mystery to us is no dilemma to God.
Does our prayer change things, or will God do what God wants to do anyways? I think we have to look back at scripture. One place in particular where God moves His time frame is with Hezekiah. King Hezekiah was set to die, God told Him he was going to die.
1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying,
3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him:
5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,
6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”
God will never change His overall intent, but He may change the timing. You see, it is His Will that must happen in the end, but prayer and supplication can change when His Will is accomplished.
On Earth as it is in Heaven - Again the correlation is drawn that God resides in Heaven. His perfection is modeled in heaven. We should desire that earth look like heaven, or at least God would extend His mercy and grace to earth as He has in heaven.
Give us This Day or Daily Bread - God provides our every need, every single day. At times I think we want God to provide an over abundance to us as Christians. But even in the wilderness, God would only provide manna enough to feed them daily and two days on the weekend. We have never been in a position that we must survive on what we get each day, but this is where faith comes in - God will provide what we need each day. It does not always mean we will receive an overabundance, doesn’t mean we will have everything we want at our fingertips when we want it, but our faith sustains us in knowing God will provide.
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
And Forgive Us Our Debts - we will never be sinless this side of heaven. We can be counted as righteous through the blood of Jesus, but we will never be sinless. Our debts, our sins, must be forgiven. Thank God He loves us so much that He will forgive our debts, our sins, if we confess our sin and ask forgiveness. You see, the whole reason we are in the mess we are in is because of sin and FORGIVENESS is the biggest need of all humans. If God forgives us…then He also expects us to forgive others. Doesn’t mean we won’t remember what has been done, but forgiveness is required.
And Deliver Us From Evil - Not only do we sin, but we live in a sinful world, and it is this sinful world that works against Christians. Satan will try his best to tear us down, wear us out, make us doubt, question our salvation, and it seems there is no escape from all the constant bombardment. But it is a test of faith, and we will either pass or fail this test. Trials and Temptations are two different things. Trials are what we go through, Temptations are what we might be led into. The evil used here is for the trials and temptations of life. God wants us to be able to endure, but also thrive.
Yours Is The Kingdom, Power, Glory - while we may struggle…it’s not our struggle alone. It is through the modelling of this prayer that we realize we are not alone, but God is walking right be side us all the way. Recognize we serve a Heavenly Father, worthy or reverence and seen as holy, and while we live in the world we are not of the world, we are of God’s Kingdom and it is His Will that will be accomplished through Him, He provides for our needs daily, and will deliver us from the evil of this world IF we put our faith and trust in Him. How do we do that? Through communicating with our Heavenly Father.
Closing
Closing
Notice the first trait mentioned: a good listener. To communicate effectively, even with God, means we are to take time to LISTEN to Him also.