Get Connected: A Daily Pattern for Prayer
Week 1 – “God I Praise You”
Pastor Brian Chandler
Matthew 6:9-13 NAS
i.e. – Boy Who Didn’t Know What to Pray
Maybe we feel that sometimes about prayer. We don’t know what we should pray for or how we should pray.
The disciple of Christ were concerned about their prayer life. They wanted to know how to pray, they wanted to know what to pray for, and how they could pray so as to get an answer for their prayer.
The disciples here had seen and heard Jesus prayer. And it was awesome. It was perfect. It was spirit filled. It was according to God's will and the disciples saw His power and authority and His relationship with God and they wanted what He had.
So they cried out to Christ and said “Lord teach us to pray.” The goal of any good disciple was to be like their master and so with that in mind they wanted to be like Christ when they prayed.
So we have this model prayer Jesus sets forth for them. They were asking Him for a daily model for prayer. So I want to share with you over the next six weeks "A pattern for daily prayer." This pattern will help you stay focused. This pattern will help you pray in the spirit of God. This pattern will help you receive more from God in prayer. This pattern will help you grow in you intimacy with God. This pattern for prayer will help stretch your faith in God and who He is.
So let go after it. Let’s learn all that God wants us to about this very important area in our spiritual life called prayer.
Jesus starts this passage by telling them what prayer is not.
What prayer is not:
1. Prayer is not being noticed by others.
The religious leaders loved to stand in public in the temple and on the street corners. Praying out loud for everyone to hear them so that people would say… “Wow look at how holy he is. Listen to those words, I don’t even understand some of those words. Wow, I’m afraid to pray in public because I just can’t pray that kind of prayer.”
2. Prayer is not repetition of words or how many words you say.
Some people say the same prayer over and over again. Thinking there is power in the words or power in how often they say it.
Jesus just said in this passage don’t say the same thing over and over again. And churches have taken this portion of scripture, The Lord’s Prayer, and repeat it over and over again. And it can lose it’s meaning and purpose when we do that.
Jesus didn’t give us this prayer so that we could repeat it over an over again. He gave it to us as a pattern of prayer. Where the focus should go and what elements it should include.
Others pray lengthy prayers thinking the more words I pray the better chance I have that God will hear me and answer me.
Jesus says it’s not in the repetition or in the many words. It’s about our relationship to God, it’s about our heart and the spirit in which it’s given.
Jesus says when you pray. Get alone with God in private. Just you and Him. For some one on one time together. Get away from the regular noise of your day. Draw away and reconnect with God. Focus on God and who He, and your relationship too Him, and then tell him what you need. He knows it all anyway so you might as well simply tell Him.
Jesus modeled this beautifully. The disciples knew that Christ rose early in the morning and got away and spent time in private prayer with God.
Jesus knew that His disciples would never really be like Him unless this was a discipline in their daily life.
And we need to know if we do not draw away and spend time in private prayer with God, we will never really be the person God wants us to become this side of heaven. It’s just not going to happen.
i.e. – Becky T. on prayer
i.e. - i.e. When you are dating someone and your starting to fall in love, you can't want to get away from the crowds of people to spend time alone to just talk, and grow in your intimacy to each other. Michele and I.
That's how it needs to be in our relationship to the Lord. We love Him so much we just want to get away to spend time personal time, just you and Him. Just talking. Just letting Him know how much you love Him. Letting Him love on you. Working on your relationship. Growing in that relationship. Growing in your intimacy.
Matthew 6:9-13 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘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.]’ NAS
So here is this daily pattern for prayer.
“God I Praise You”
Come to God and cry our to Him and praise Him for who He is and all He has done for you.
When we come to God to cry out to Him, there are three things we need to understand about Him.
I. He is Our Father
Vs. 9a "Our Father in Heaven"
The starting point to prayer is having a relationship with God. Prayer is reserved only for those who know the Lord. For those who are God's children.
You need to ask yourself the question… “Am I one of God’s children? Have I received Christ as my Savior?” You need to know the Lord so you can become one of His children and then when you become one of His children you have all the right of being His child. One of the greatest is fellowship with Him. You can pray directly to God. Not to anther person but to God Himself. What a privilege and joy this is.
God hears the cries and prayers of those who are His children.
Galatians 4:6-7 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. NLT
You are God's very own child and He made you His heir and he gave you the Holy Spirit which prompts up to cry out to God in prayer. “Abba Father.”
Abba - means father or daddy
Jesus only ever addressed God as Father in all of His prayers. Yet this time the word he is uses is a common known Aramaic word with which a child would address his father. When we come to God in prayer come to Him because we are His child and He is our father.
i.e. - Time I heard the cry of one of my children. I heard and I came and I answered them.
And that's what God does when we cry out in prayer to Him. He hears, He comes and He answers.
A person who is not God's child can't cry out to God with the help the H.S. If he does it will do no good because He is not a true child of God.
Romans 8:15-16 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. NLT
So we can call God our Father and praise His name, because we were adopted into His family. Not because we were created physically by Him.
If you are a follower of Christ today you need to thank and praise God that you have been adopted into Christ’s own family and you have a personal relationship, a father son or father daughter, relationship to God.
Joshua 24:17 “For the Lord our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes…” NLT
Ps. 48:14 For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die. NLT
Ps. 95:6-7 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. NIV
If you are a child of God, did you hear? The Lord is our God. He is our Father. Let us come before Him, and bow down, and kneel, and worship Him. That’s the least we can do for Him each day.
Who is this God and what is He like?
Understanding who He is and what He is like I believe will change our prayer life.
So we need to begin our prayers understand more about who God is.
Listen to what the Bible says.
Alpha and Omega
Beginning and the End
Everlasting God.
Creator of the Earth
Creator of mankind
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Bright morning star
Great Shepherd
Head of the church
Holy one
Jesus
Savior
The Way
Light to the World
King of Kings
Lord of Lords
Wow! He is so awesome and so powerful so majestic.
And you know what? He is our God. He is our Father.
In the Bible there are many references to the attributes of God and who He is and what He can do. I'm going to share with you some of the 25 cent words I learned in seminary.
Self-existence one - He is not dependent upon anything outside Himself. He gives life and breath into everything. He created everything by His mighty power. He revealed Himself as the great "I Am".
Immutability of God - He does not change. He remains faithful. He's constant. He remains the same yesterday, today and forever.
Eternality of God - He is timeless. He has always been and He will always be. He is eternal.
Omnipresent - He fills everything on earth and in Heaven. His presence is everywhere. He is everywhere always. There is never a place where God is not present.
David in Psalm 139 talked about this. He said if I try to escape your presence I can't. You are everywhere I go. If I go to heaven you are there. If I travel to the farthest ocean, you are there. If go down to the grave, you are there. You are everywhere God.
Omniscience - He is all-knowing. He knows everything about anything. He knows what we think we before we think it.
i.e. - Put God on "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader." And He's going to win the million dollar prize.
Omnipotent - Means He is almighty. He is all powerful. There's nothing to hard for Him to do. He holds the entire universe together with His word of power. If He was not holding everything together things would just fall apart.
Sovereignty of God - God is God and because He is God He rules over everything in all creation. And He works all things after the counsel of His divine will and plan.
That is your God. That is your Father. You are His very own child. Do you understand who you get to spend private time in prayer with today?
He is our God. He is our Father.
II. He is Holy
The word hallowed means to set apart as holy. And it means to respect, glorify, and exalt His name.
The starting point in prayer is understanding who this God is and come before Him to respect Him, and to glorify Him and to exalt His Holy name.
When Moses encountered God for the first time. Exodus 3:5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. NLT
We need to understand this is a holy God we approach.
Isaiah 6 when Isaiah received a vision from the Lord. He saw the Lord sitting on His Holy throne. And there were angels flying back and forth and they were crying out saying...
Isaiah 6:3b "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven's Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!"
This is our father but He is also a holy God we approach in prayer.
We reverence the Lord for who He is, what He means to us and what He has done.
This is taking time to meditate and think about the holiness of God, and how majestic he is in all the earth. To reflect back on what He has done to change your life. To save you. To adopt you as His very own child.
Throughout scripture there is this understanding of the Holiness of God and how God has set apart a group of people to be holy and pure like He is.
O.T. part of the bible.
Lev. 20:26 You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. NLT
Deut. 7:6 “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.” NLT
In the N.T.
I Peter 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” NLT
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. NIV
What a responsibility we have as followers of Christ. God saved us from eternal punishment. He made us part of His family. He set us apart. And His desire is that we live each day set apart
Zech. 14:20 On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: Holy to the Lord. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the Lord will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. NLT
We are God's very own people and He set us apart to be different than every other person who is alive. He set us apart to be holy like He is holy.
We come to God in prayer and approach Him as a Holy God. And we are so unworthy. As John the Baptist stated. Peter didn’t want to be washed by Jesus.
When we approach God like this it should make us aware of our sins. Where are we spiritually? Are we living a holy life? Are we glorifying God with our life.
He is our Father. He is Holy.
III. He is worthy of our praise
The mere fact of who He is should be enough reason to praise Him. He is our Father. He is Holy and because of that He should be praised. He is so worthy of our praise.
When we come to God in prayer it's really easy to just launch into prayer focused on our needs instead of beginning our prayers focused on God and who He is and what He expects of us. But when we start our prayers focused on who God is and what He can do it changes everything.
This first thing on our lips in prayer should be honoring, praising and glorifying God.
And you know what? God loves it, when we honor and praise Him.
Don't you like it when someone praises you or complements you? “You are such a nice person.” “I love how you teach our kids.” “I love your cooking.” “You really a talented painter.” You never grow tired of hearing someone praise and competent you. God made us to desire and want that. And you know what? He loves when His people praise Him. He never grows tired of being praised.
The Psalms are a good place to being to praise the Lord.
Psalm 7:17 “I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” NLT
Psalm 9:2 “I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High. NLT
Psalm 21:6 “We praise you, Lord, for your great strength! We will sing and praise your power.” GNT
Psalm 35:18 “Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly. I will praise you before all the people.” NLT
Psalm 48:1a “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised…” NLT
Psalm 71:23 “I will shout for joy and sing your praises, for you have ransomed me.” NLT
Psalm 106:1 “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.” NLT
Psalm 113:103 “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.” NAS
I encourage you when you have your time with the Lord. Include a Psalm in what you are reading.
Ways that we can we praise God?
Through music
Through our words
Through our body
Through our job
Through our hobbies
How do plants and animals praise God? They reflect the glory of God by doing what God created them to do.
I Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” NLT
Each of us can glorify God by what we do and what we say. By fulfilling the plans and purposes God has just for each of our lives.
Talk to your heavenly father in familiar trusting manner the way a child would his own father.
Revelation 5:9-14 And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb. NLT
One of the angels start singing… “Worthy am I, to receive power, and wisdom, and strength, and honor and glory and blessing.” No you would never see that. It’s never about us when we approach God, it’s always about Him and glorifying me. But how many times do we do that, when it becomes about us and not about God.
Have you prayed to God like this? When was the last time you came before God with this kind of awe, and reverence, and respect, to honor and glorify His Holy name?
You can come before the Lord at anytime, anywhere with any prayer need you might have.
i.e. – When I come home and my daughters come running out and they hug me and tell me they love me and they are just so excited to see me and spend time with me. Other times when I come home and I walk in and they don’t even notice that I am there. They are watching T.V. or playing on the computer and are more interested in what they are doing then acknowledging my presence and wanting to spend time with me. It hurts me when that happens. Any you know what else hurts me when they come to me when they just want something from me. They don’t want to just be with me they want something from me.
That’s a picture of me at times. I am more interested than playing on the computer or watching T.V. than acknowledging His presence and wanting to spend time with Him. And many times when I do come to God in prayer, I just want something from Him.
Is that a picture of your relationship to Christ? You just come to God when you want something from Him.
That’s why Jesus shares this as the starting point in prayer. It’s not launching into what we want. It’s first of all meditating and focusing our hearts on God and who He is and how awesome He is and how holy He is. And praising Him and thanking Him for that.
Throughout the day spend time with God and just cry out to Him and say “God I praise You.”
He is God. He is Holy. And He is worthy of our praise.
