How To Pray A Perfect Prayer

How to Pray a Perfect Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - February 24, 2008

(Revised March 6, 2021 to correct my error about this being the same prayer as the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:1-4)

BACKGROUND:

*Do you ever wish you could learn how to pray better? You are not the only one. In Luke 11:1, one of the disciples saw Jesus praying, and when the Lord finished that disciple said, "Lord, teach us to pray." Jesus replied by giving them a prayer very similar to the Lord's Prayer here in Matthew 6.

*In Luke 11:2-4:

2. . . He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

3. Give us day by day our daily bread.

4. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.''

*These two prayers are so similar that for years I thought Luke 11 was a different report on the same event. But I was wrong. The Lord's Prayer here in Matthew 6 was given at the beginning of Christ's 3-year ministry. And the prayer in Luke 11 was given just a few months before the cross.

*John Gill explained that "though the prayer in Luke 11 is similar, the prayer in Matthew 6 was given at another time and in another place. In Matthew 6, Jesus was in Galilee. The Luke prayer was given in Judea. The Matthew instructions were given as part of the Sermon on the Mount. But in Luke, the instructions came after a request from one of the disciples who saw Jesus praying." (1)

*But the thing that stands out to me, is that after 3 years of following Jesus, this disciple was still hungry to learn more about prayer. And God wants us to have that same kind of hunger! He wants us to know more about prayer, so our prayer life will grow stronger than ever before.

*Please think about this as we read Matthew 6:9-13.

MESSAGE:

*Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer as a model to teach us how to pray. And He kept it simple. Aren't you glad! There are only 66 words in the Lord's Prayer, but it can teach us how to pray a perfect prayer.

1. FIRST, FOCUS ON YOUR FATHER.

*Jesus said to pray this way: "Our FATHER in Heaven." That's the way we can pray, if we have received Jesus as Savior and Lord. Christians, God is our Father, our Father who provides for us and watches over us.

*Think of a little baby just learning to walk. He staggers and stumbles around all over the place. And there's Dad, following right behind to catch him when he falls. That's the way I see our Heavenly Father. We're not always paying attention to Him, but He is always paying attention to us.

*He wants to hear from us. He promises to listen to us, even though He knows what we need, before we ask. And He will meet every need we have according to His perfect will. Believers, we can fully trust in our Heavenly Father!

*Gene Appel tells one of my favorite Dad stories. It's about a family who went to the lake for vacation one summer. Dad was fiddling around by the boat house, while his 12-year-old and 3-year-old sons played on the dock. Older brother was supposed to be watching little brother, but he got distracted just when little Billy decided to check out the fishing boat at the end of the dock.

*Billy put his foot in the boat, but it shifted and he fell in. His older brother screamed and Dad came running. But when he jumped in, he couldn't find Billy. Sick with panic, Dad took another gulp of air, and went back down in the murky water, feeling around everywhere.

*Finally, on his way back up the second time, Dad felt Billy's arms locked in a death grip around one of the posts under the dock. He was about 4 feet under the water. Dad pried the boy's fingers loose and they popped up together for a breath of air.

*When everybody calmed down a little bit, Dad asked his son: "What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water?" Billy replied, "I was just waiting for you dad, -- just waiting for you." (2)

*That little boy trusted His dad! And that's the way we should trust our Heavenly Father. But is He your Father? Tom Rothhaar asked, "On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you describe your relationship with God?"