Prayer Principles Series

A PATTERN FOR PRAYER

PRAYER PRINCIPLES

"When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, which is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."

(Matthew 6:5-15, NLT)

(SLIDE 2)

INTRODUCTION

A man, without consulting his wife beforehand, invited the new pastoral couple to stay for dinner. Somewhat annoyed at the short notice, his wife began hurriedly to prepare the meal. After much frustration and not a few uttered complaints in the kitchen, the wife served dinner. The man seeking to impress the new pastoral couple suggested that their young daughter give thanks for the meal. When the young girl appeared to stall, little overawed by the presence of the visitors, her mother sought to help her, prompting her “Go on, you know like mommy prayed.” The little girl’s eyes lit up with understanding. Closing her eyes she prayed “Dear Lord, why did he invite them to supper tonight off all nights!”

As children strive to imitate their parents, so the disciples sought to imitate Jesus at prayer. Luke records them as asking Jesus … “Lord teach us to pray.” Jesus then proceeds to outline in 66 words A PATTERN FOR PRAYER.

We call it the Lord’s Prayer. This is somewhat of a misnomer AS THE Lord could never have prayed this prayer. Perhaps a better name would be the Disciples Prayer or even the Family Prayer!

Notice that Jesus does not say ‘if you pray’ BUT ‘when you pray’. As we learnt last week, for Jesus …

PRAYER IS NOT

 A MOUTHING OF WORDS (although words are essential in effective praying)

 A RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE (although effective praying takes discipline)

 A CELESTIAL 911 (although pray does involve requesting God’s intervention in a time of crisis…

 A DIVINE REQUISITION FORM (although prayer does involve making our requests known to God)

 A SUPERNATURAL VENDING MACHINE (although God does supply all our needs)

 A HEAVENLY HIGH (although sensing God’s awesome presence is vital, my praying should never be restricted to my mood or inclination towards feeling spiritual)

Jesus demonstrated in His own prayer life as well as in His teaching on prayer that prayer, true PRAYER IS A PATTERN FOR LIVING. When Jesus taught us the Lord’s Prayer, He showed us as we looked at last week that …

PRAYER AS A PATTERN FOR LIVING IS

 First and foremost … A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS our Heavenly FATHER which provides a vital…

 A RESOURCE FOR PURPOSEFUL LIVING, not just saying our prayers but allowing prayer to become the way we live out our daily lives. This in turn gives us a meaningful barometer,

 A RATIFICATION OF our SPIRITUAL HEALTH

Before we launch into looking at the pattern of prayer our Lord taught us, in detail, analyzing each statement, in order to mine the depths of meaning in each phrase we need to look at some fundamental principles that Jesus layed down in teaching us how to pray. Jesus gives us three …

PRAYER PRINCIPLES

• PITFALLS TO AVOID

• PRIORITIES TO ACKNOWLEDGE

• PATTERN TO ADOPT

(SLIDE 3)

PITFALLS TO AVOID

In introducing His Pattern for prayer, Jesus points us to three pitfalls we need to avoid.

 A WRONG AUDIENCE

““When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

Jesus is not condemning praying in public. Jesus is not suggesting that we cease to pray in Church Worship Services. Nor is Jesus suggesting that we do not pray in public places, such as at a restaurant giving thanks before our meal. Jesus prayed publicly on numerous occasions …