Lord, Help! A-men
By Pastor JC Browning
August 5, 2007
Luke 11: 1 – 13
Matthew 6 : 5 – 13
Prayer is a central part of any Christian’s life, both Up’s and Down’s.
Illustration: A story is told of a small group study that was done each week a church. Each week it would be held in a different member’s home and the host would provide snacks and the opening prayer. One young lady always provided the best food, had the cleanest home, etc. But she could never say the prayer; she was terrified at the thought of praying in front of people. Finally after years of trying she told the pastor one night “Tonight’s the night, I’m going to pray.” Everyone came, they snacked and talked and when it was time to start they all rose, bowed their heads and waited. After a moment the pastor began to wonder and looked over at the young woman. She was visibly shaking, tears in her eyes she quietly prayed: “Lord, Help! A-men.”
What a perfect prayer. It says it all LORD (acknowledging sovereignty) HELP (Acknowledging Need) A-MEN (So be it.)
Let’s Pray:
In today’s Scripture the disciples asked and were taught how to pray. The story is told from 2 different views both equally important, once you look at them.
Proof that no matter what you get out of a sermon, someone else may get a totally different lesson out of it and both people walk away with equal important aspects but it not until we share through Bible study or fellowship that we get the benefit of both lessons.
* Luke 11: 1 – 13
Matthew 6: 5 – 13
We are taught in Luke and Matthew, how to pray.
• The followers of John the Baptist were renowned for their Prayer Life. Christ disciples asked Jesus in Luke 11 to teach them to pray.
• Luke 11: 5 - 13
o Luke tells about the “Ask, Seek, Knock” principal of the prayer lesson.
o Ask, Seek, Knock Luke 11:10
We don’t have, because we don’t ask
We don’t find, because we don’t seek
We don’t always have doors opened to us, because we don’t knock.
• Matthew 6: 5 – 8
o Matthew tells the story from the ‘don’t pray for other men, pray for God lesson.’
Many fear what others will think about them based on their prayer ability.
Illustration: Our prayers are like a child’s art, God doesn’t judge our words, but He sees the heart behind the prayer and he displays it with pride.
Illustration: A dog can teach you how to pray. When you go to feed a dog a piece of meat and you place it on your fork, you have his total focus. Momentarily you have total control of its attention. That is how we should pray; with a total focus on what it is we are coming to God for.
This kind of focus is the basis behind meditation in prayer or centering prayers.
Total focus on the object of our prayers, be it:
• Weakness
• Discouragement
• Doubt
• Etc.
Even Christ felt Discouragement, Need, Fear & Forsakenness; and when he did he went to the Lord in prayer.
Ps. 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
How Jesus Looked To His Father for Help in His Time of Need by Paul Fritz (Sermon Central 2007)
1. When Jesus felt weak He looked to His Father for strength, power and energy to His challenges. The Lord Jesus recalled the words of David, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my hearts trusts in him and I am helped." (Ps. 28:7a) Ask the Lord to strengthen, encourage and empower you to do whatever He leads you to do with all might.
2. When Jesus felt discouraged, He turned to His Father for encouragement. The Lord Jesus remembered the words of David, who wrote, "My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song." (Ps. 28:7b) Call on the Lord while He may be found and He will replace your feelings of discouragement with all the joy of His encouragement.
3. When Jesus felt alone and forsaken He cried out to His Father and received sweet assurance of companionship and guidance. The Lord Jesus remembered the words of David, who wrote, "You have made known to me the path of life: you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." (Ps. 16:11) Ask the Lord to help you take advantage of the promise, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8)
4. When Jesus felt that He needed wisdom and guidance He sought His Father’s wisdom. The Lord Jesus knew that His Father possessed, "Great depth and riches of wisdom." (Rom. 11:33) Continually seek the Lord’s wisdom and knowledge to make the wisest decisions for every problem that arises.
5. When Jesus felt attacked, He called to His Father for defense. The Lord Jesus remembered the mighty words of David who wrote, "O my strength, I watch for you; you, O god are my fortress, my loving God." (Ps. 59:9) Ask the Lord to defend you by fighting your battles for you.
6. When Jesus felt weary and faint hearted, He called to His Father for greater resources. The Lord Jesus remembered the words of David who wrote, "I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe." (Ps. 61:20) Ask the Lord to plug you into greater resources than you presently are tapped into and He will renew and energize you.
7. When Jesus felt hated and despised and rejected of men, He called to His Father for reassurance. Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but your will be done." (Luke 22:42) Take time to withdraw from your responsibilities and commit, delight and trust the Lord for His reassurance in the face of human rejection and hatred. He will never leave us or forsake us so that we can confidently know that the Lord is our helper, what can man do to you?
8. When Jesus ran into tremendous opposition, He called on His Father to be greater than any problem. Jesus said, "All things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23) If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can move great mountains of opposition, criticism and misunderstandings.
9. When Jesus face sickness, He called to His Father for healing. The Lord Jesus remembered the words of David who wrote, "He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases and redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion." (Ps. 100:3)
10. When Jesus faced growing dissatisfaction among people, He cried to God for help. The Lord Jesus knew, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied."(Matt. 5:8) Be more like Jesus when He faced the hungry 5,000 in John 6:11. "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted." The Lord has plenty of resources available to those who will ask, seek and knock and the doors will be opened to them. We are not limited by resources only our faith and obedience to God.
11. When Jesus faced oppression from unrighteous authorities, He trusted His Father to intervene on His behalf. The Lord Jesus said to the disciples, who wanted to take up arms against His adversaries, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than 10,000 angels?" (Matt 26:53) Be wise in what you ask for.
12. When Jesus faced fear, He called to His Father for courage. The Lord Jesus remembered the words of David who wrote, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, because you are with me." (Ps. 23:4) Let the Lord calm your fears as you take courage from Him and His mighty promises for victory.
13. When Jesus faced death, He looked to His Father for overcoming power. The Lord Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:46) We may not understand all that God calls us to face, but can obey Him and be assured He will bless and use us to accomplish all of His work.
CLOSING:
• We read the story of Jesus teaching his disciples to pray with heart and effectiveness.
• We read that Jesus emphasized that we are to pray to God not to the approval of those around us.
• Total focus on God and the desires of our prayers.
• We studied that even Jesus had needs and took them to God in prayer.
• It is still about that relationship with the Father, without it we can not have an effective prayer life.
LET’S PRAY:
