The Disciples Guide to Prayer
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Intro:
Intro:
Two weeks ago I talked about what Choosing your reward
Jesus gave options when it came to giving, prayer, & fasting
Choose the praise of people or the reward in heaven
In the middle of those rewards is the disciples guide to prayer
You know it as the Lord’s prayer, but it is really Jesus teaching the disciples to pray
They actually asked him how to pray
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
There is a guide for almost everything
You can use the instructions that come with a new package and try to interpret what the pictures mean
You used to be able to buy the dummies guide to everything
Now if you don’t know how to do something you Youtube it
There is even a famous book called “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.”
Today we get one of the most practical guides you can use for your life
This will improve your prayer life
Jesus gives us the disciples guide to prayer
Read Matthew 5:9-13
Read Matthew 5:9-13
Transition: Pray Like This
How many of you grew up reciting the Lord’s prayer over and over?
How many of you can recite it forwards and backwards?
People who don’t know anything about God can repeat some of this prayer
It is that well known
The sermon on the mount was a unique event but it was also a compilation of many messages that he spoke all over the Galilee
This prayer he gives is a guide on how to improve your prayer life
People struggle with what to say
Jesus gives us 5 keys that unlock a fruitful prayer life
Jesus says in vs. 9 Pray like this
He did not say, “Pray in these words.”
He did not mean it to be repeated verbatum
There are millions of people reciting this prayer thinking it suffices for a prayer life and they have missed the point.
He said, “Pray after this manner”; that is, “Use this prayer as a pattern, not as a substitute.”
As we learn the categories and start to pray over those our prayer will grow in width and depth
It shows us five petitions, two towards God and three for ourselves
In the Bible prayer is worship that includes all the attitudes of the human spirit in its approach to God.
The Christian worships God when he adores, confesses, praises and supplicates him in prayer.
A man prays because God has already touched his spirit
The Lord’s prayer is really a disciples guide to prayer
I want to give you five keys to improve your prayer life
Adore vs. 9
Adore vs. 9
The first key to improve your prayer life is to Adore God
Adore means deep love and respect
The first words are Our Father
The Aramaic word is Patros and is translated into the Greek as Abba
That is an endearing term the Jews would never use
In fact, they wouldn’t mention God’s name out of reverence
And it’s true we should revere God, hence Jesus’ use of Hallowed
But our relationship with Jesus and our prayer life is much more powerful when it is more intimate and personal
Daddy is better
The introductory words of the prayer also remind us of the fact that all Christian believers are one in him, for we are to pray to him as ‘Our Father’
‘Hallowed be thy name’ is a prayer asking God to enable us and all men to recognize and honour him
So how do you Adore the Lord?
David gives us some clues
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
Submit vs. 10
Submit vs. 10
The second key to improve your prayer life is to submit to God’s will
Submit means to yield to a superior force or to the authority
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Ask vs. 11
Ask vs. 11
The third tip to improve your prayer life is to Ask God for what you need
Ask means to say something in order to obtain an answer
The petition ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ asks God as our heavenly Father to grant us the physical necessities of life
This verse alludes to God’s provision of “daily bread” (manna) for his people in the wilderness after he first redeemed them.
Prayers for God to supply one’s basic needs—of which bread and water are the ultimate examples—were common in the ancient world
Our prayer for daily sustenance is thus not meant to be a selfish prayer, or a prayer for material luxury, but a prayer in which we confess our utter dependence on God and look to him in faith and love to supply us with all things which we really need to enable us to live according to his will.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Confess vs. 12
Confess vs. 12
The fourth key to improve your prayer life is to confess your sins
Confess means to admit that one is at fault in some way
The Gk. word hamartias, here rendered ‘sins’, has the primary meaning of ‘missing the mark’ and thus ‘acting wrongly’ and ‘breaking the law of God’
By sinning we have incurred a moral and spiritual debt to our Father and Creator, who has full authority over our lives.
Jewish teaching regarded sins as “debts” before God; the same Aramaic word could be used for both.
Biblical law required the periodic forgiveness of monetary debtors (in the seventh and fiftieth years), so the illustration of forgiving debts would have been a graphic one
especially since Jewish lawyers had found a way to circumvent the release of debts so that creditors would continue to lend
In this petition we therefore humbly ask him for a remission of our debts, seeing that we ourselves can never earn our forgiveness.
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Protect vs. 13
Protect vs. 13
The final key to improve your prayer life is to pray for God’s protection
Protect means to keep safe from harm or injury
The Aramaic wording behind this verse, suggest that the first line means: “Let us not sin when we are tested”—rather than “Let us not be tested”
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
Forgive vs. 14-15
Forgive vs. 14-15
One Final note
Closing:
Mr. Moody tells us a remarkable incident in connection with an early visit to London. He had gone there for a visit. He was unknown in London, hence he did not expect to preach; but a little while after arriving there he was invited to preach for a certain church, which he did. He said it was a very cold and uninteresting service to him, but he announced that he would preach again that night
Upon reaching the church, he noticed that the atmosphere had changed, he did not know just why. At the close of the meeting he was led to give an invitation for those who wanted to be saved to stand. A great crowd of people stood. He left the next day for Dublin, Ireland. Shortly after arriving there he received a telegram from the church to return, stating that the whole community was in an upstir and clamor for a series of meetings. He went back and found that a great revival was beginning, and hundreds of people were being converted.
Not long after he learned the secret. An invalid lady, who could not attend the church, was praying for a mighty outpouring of the Spirit upon the church. She prayed for months. Once she saw in the papers accounts of some of the Moody meetings in America, and, although she had never heard of Mr. Moody before, she began to pray that God would send him to her church in London for a revival. One Sunday morning her sister, upon her return from the service, informed her of Moody’s presence and his preaching, whereupon she spent the whole afternoon in prayer that God would make that night a night of power. That explains the difference between morning and evening services!