Get Connected: A Daily Pattern for Prayer
"God I Want To Do Your Will"
We just started a new series of messages that I have entitled “Get Connected: A Daily Pattern for Prayer”.
We are looking at the famous Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew chapter 6. The disciples had heard Jesus pray that had seen Jesus pray and they knew that when He prayed He received what He asked for. And so they wanted to have a successful prayer life and so they asked the Lord to teach them to pray.
And so Jesus sets forth for us here a pattern for prayer that we can use in our daily life that will keep us focused on what to pray for and how to pray so our prayers can be more effective and so we can receive more what we ask for in prayer.
My prayer for you is that through this study your intimacy with the Lord will grow deeper and increase. I have to say there is nothing more fulfilling than intimacy with the Lord. The things we try to fill our life with will never satisfy us like intimacy with God. Trying to fill the void with a selfish desire or some sin we are addictd too will never satisfy us like intimacy with God.
We have to commit to making prayer a daily discipline in our life. We will never be the man or women of God that the Lord created us to be until we get this area of our life in order. Jesus told the disciples when it came to prayer that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I’m mean most of us if we are honest we really want to pray. We really want to grow in our intimacy with God but we just don’t have the discipline to do it like we should. We can’t do this apart from the Spirit of God. We need His help.
Last week we looked at verse 9… “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” NAS
When we start our prayers the main focus needs to be on God and who God is and how powerful He is. That He’s our Father. We know Him personally. We have a relationship with Him. He saved us. And think about how powerful and awesome He is (i.e. – field trip to cavern and mine and the beauty God has created beneath the surface of the earth - crystals, gold, rock). And so we need to start our prayers by thanking and praising God for who He is in our lives and all He has done to save us and to thank Him that He is our Father who loves and cares personally for us. And He is all-powerful. This is mighty God we approach and He’s our Father and He has all power over everything and He can answer any prayer we have. There is nothing I can ask God for that he can’t do it He wants too. No Mountain your facing He can’t remove. No ocean so deep He can’t help you out of. There is nothing on earth too hard for God. This is an all-powerful God we approach in prayer.
We need to recognized not only is He our Father, but He is a holy God. This is a holy God we approach. When we approach this holy God it should reveal to us how unholy we are it should reveal sin in our life that needs to be confessed. For the Lord said that He saved us so we might be set apart as a holy people unto Himself.
And because He is our Father and He is Holy, He is worthy of our praise. God loves when we praise Him and thank Him for who He is.
So start your prayers by saying "God I praise you". God never tires by hearing how much we praise Him for who He is and all He has done for us.
Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." NAS
I almost titled this message "God I want to know your will."
And the reality is, for most of us we really want to know God’s will for our life. Ask the average person do they want to know God’s will for their life and they will say absolutely.
We might even want to do some of God’s will but the truth for most of us is we are more attracted to God telling us what His will is for our life than being totally obedient to doing God’s will.
We want to know…
What school should I attend?
Who should I date?
Who should I marry?
What career should I choose?
Where should I live?
What church should I attend?
What should I do with my life?
We are really committed to wanting to know God's will for our life personally. But you know what? We are not as committed to doing the will of God.
How many of you have been praying for direction in an area of your life and you so want God to come visit your room and write down in plan English what His will for your life is? We all secretly long for that.
But let me ask you… “How completely and totally committed are you to also being the person of God that He wants you to be?”
You know God has already revealed much of His will for us in the Bible. He has spelled it out. It is clear. It's a roadmap for our life. But how many of us are totally committed to knowing that will and doing it?
I have titled today’s message – “God I want to do your will.”
The word “will” here is verse 10 means God’s desire, or God’s purposes.
Part of our prayer each day should include “God I want to do you will.” God I desire what you desire for my life. God I want to fulfill your purposes for my life today.
Three reasons we don’t want to do the will of God:
1. We are selfish.
We are selfish, self-centered people aren’t we? When we get up in the morning we are thinking about ourselves. We are getting ourselves showered and cleaned up and looking good. We are picking out the clothes we want to wear. We are eating the breakfast we want to eat. We get in the car we want to drive. We spend our time during the day doing what we want to do. We talk and spend time with the people we want to spend time with. We spend our money on what we want to spend it on. We come home and fix the dinner we want to eat. We spend time on the computer looking at the things we want to look at. We watch the T.V. shows we want to watch and we go to bed when we want to go to bed. We are selfish, and self-centered people. And most days we are so focused on ourselves and our needs we really don’t have time and space to know the will of God much less do the will of God.
Most of the time it’s really all about me and my needs. I come first. I am the god of my own life. I make my own decisions based on my needs. I try to glorify myself.
Daily we live with the attitude - What do I want to do today? How can I meet my needs today?
Every sin I ever commit is because I am thinking about my needs and my desires more than the needs and desires of God. That’s why I sin. That’s why I fall.
We are self seeking, self-centered individuals.
Characteristics of a person who is self-centered:
It’s a life focus on self.
You are proud of yourself and your own accomplishments.
You are confident in yourself
You are depending on yourself and your own abilities
You seek to affirm yourself
You seek to be acceptable and affirmed by the world's standards
You look at things from a human perspective
You only look out for your own needs.
You think about your needs more than the needs of God and more than the needs of others around you.
Let me share with you some biblical examples.
Adam and Eve in the garden. Share how Satan tempted them. When they were tempted to eat of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They became selfish and desired to gain wisdom and understanding and to be like God.
The 10 spies that were sent into the promised land. God said He was going to give the land to them. They knew and understood God’s will and plan for them. They only thought about their abilities, their power, they fears, their own life, and their needs. “We can’t do this. The people are too big and too powerful. We will die.”
Characteristics of a person who is god-centered or living according to the will of God:
You are confident in God and who He is.
You are dependent on God and His abilities.
Your life is focused on God and His activity around you.
You are humble before the Lord.
You deny your own desires.
You daily seek God's Kingdom and His righteousness first.
You love and treat others like yourself.
You seek God's perspective in each and every circumstance.
You live a holy and godly life.
Biblical examples:
Joseph and Potiphar's wife – Joseph said I cannot commit this terrible sin and sin against my God. Joseph was so committed to living a holy and pure life before the Lord.
Joshua and Caleb - The Lord will lead us, the Lord will help us, the Lord will destroy them. They were focused on God and His power and might not their own. The knew and had faith in who God was.
You see the difference between the two? One is all about me and my needs and what I want the other is all about God and what He wants.
It you are sitting there today just thinking about your needs. You are far from the will of God for your life. Your heart is not in the right place. Jesus never said love yourself more than God. He never said think about your needs more than your neighbor's. He never said "It's just about your baby."
When we think about our needs it sounds so righteous and so right at times. But it is not. It is far from the heart of God.
Philippians 2:3-8 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” NAS
i.e. – God is showing me just how selfish I am. How far I still need to go to be the man of God, God wants me to become.
Humility of mind – takes humility to think about others needs above my own.
Other people are more important than me.
Other peoples interests are more important than mine.
Have Christ attitude in our hearts.
Understand we are not God. The world does not revolve around us for our purposes.
Have a servants heart and serve others. When we serve someone else, guest where the focus is not?
Laying our life down for lost people. – “Your kingdom come.” Focus of Christ ministry; Are you prayer for anyone lost?; Inviting anyone into the Kingdom. This ministry can’t be only about us as Christians and our needs, we will never be the church God wants us to become until we stay focused on reaching out to lost people.”
Being obedient to whatever God wants us to do. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do Lord. I will go wherever you want me to go. I will lay down my life for you and others.”
This is holy spirit, god filled living, that is according to the will of God. Can’t do this apart from being filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We can learn all of God’s word but if we don’t if we don’t have a love for others, God’s says it’s meaningless.
We are selfish.
2. We won’t get what we want.
Isn’t that our struggle? We really don’t want to pray for God’s will because if we do we won’t get our needs met.
I’m not going to get to live where I want to life. I won’t be able to go to the school I want to go to. I won’t be able to marry the person I really want to marry. I won’t be able to work at the job I want to work at. I won’t be able to do what I want to do today.
You are God’s very own child and He loves and cares for you so much. He’s not a killjoy. He has given your certain desires and certain needs and He wants to meet those needs in your life more than you could ever realize or understand. And you know what? He wants you to ask for the things you want.
Paraphrase this portion???
Mathew 7:7-11 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.” NLT
i.e. – Cheese pizza vs. pizza with anchovies (fish)
I’m suppose to keep on asking and asking and asking, until God gives me what I am asking for. I never give up until God gives me an answer.
Lady who asked her neighbor for bread in the middle of the night. Never stopped knocking on the door until her neighbor opened the door and gave her what she asked for.
You that have kids or grandkids. If they come to you and ask you for something that is good for them, will you give it to them? i.e. – Something with a lot of sugar before they go to bed? Apple? When they ask for something that is good and really a need. You will gladly give it. You won’t give them something that is bad for them. How much more will God give you what you really need.
You see it comes down to trust. Are we going to trust in God and His will and His plan for us or are we going to focus on ourselves and on what we think is best?
James 4:2-3 “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong you want only what will give you pleasure.” NLT
We don’t want to pray and wait on God we want to meet our own selfish needs. So we lie, cheat, disobey God’s word to try to get something we think we need and want.
Isn’t that just like us at times? We are like children fighting about things. “He has what want. I want what he has. He took it from me.” You see the focus. The focus in on self-centered living. Not on the will and purposes of God.
We are selfish. We won’t get what we want.
3. We might have to do something we don’t like.
I don’t want to pray to do God’s will because He might ask me to do something that I don’t like.
“I might have to go to summer camp and sleep in a rustic cabin with 5 year olds. I might have to go to Mexico and sleep in the dirt for a week. I might have to talk to someone I don’t know. I might have to give up something I really love having.”
Being a Christian and following God will is not easy, if it were more people would be doing it: What does call us too? What kind of a life does He call us too? How does He call us to live?
Jesus calls His followers to a radically different lifestyle than the one the world calls people too.
We need to ask ourselves as Christ followers. “Do we really want to live this out?”
Matthew 10:37-39 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." NLT
"I need to love you more than my own family? More than my son or daughter? If I don't I'm not worthy of being yours.’
“If I hold onto my life, I will lose my life. But if I give up my life for you I will find it.”
“If I want to follow after you I have to deny my own selfish desires and carry a cross daily.”
God says this is all or nothing.
Mark 8:34-36 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? NLT
You must turn from your own selfishness. Take up a cross daily. And follow after the Lord.
“I need to give up my life for you and your gospel?”
Do we really live like that? Do we give up our lives daily? Do we give up our lives for the sake of the gospel? To tell people about Christ. That's kind of extreme. Yet there are people in other countries who are doing this daily. And they count it a joy to share about their faith openly and to be persecuted for it.
How many of us are doing this? Most of us are unwilling to invite a neighbor to church.
Matthew 5:39-42 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. NLT
“Don't resist evil people. If they slap me on the cheek, I’m suppose to say "Hey wait you missed this cheek, hit me here also.”
“If someone asks me for a shirt, I give them my coat also. If someone needs my help doing some work for 1 hour on my day off, I should give them two hours of work. If someone needs to borrow something from me I should give it away freely.”
i.e. - Leslie Portugal
Matthew 5:43-47 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. NLT
“I'm suppose to love my enemies. I don’t even like my enemies, I hate my enemies. You mean I have to pray for the needs of my enemies. I have to be kind to them and do good to them.”
Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ NLT
“I'm suppose to feed the hungry those who have no food. I'm suppose to give them something to drink.”
“I'm suppose to open my house to a homeless person if they need a place to stay. Am I willing to do really do that?"
“I'm suppose to give clothing to the poor. I’ll give my old stuff away but don’t ask me to give away my new stuff. That’s stuffs in style. I don’t want to give that up.”
“I'm suppose to visit and care for those who are sick. Don't they have a family member who can do that?”
“I'm suppose to go to prison. I have never done anything wrong before in my life worthy of going to prison. I’m suppose to visit criminals there?”
i.e. - James feeding the homeless
Acts 2:42-47 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. NLT
“I'm suppose to share everything I have with my brothers and sisters. I'm suppose to sell things maybe even my property to share with my brothers and sisters in need.”
“I'm suppose open my house to other people in the church to get to know them and fellowship with them.”
I've questioned whether or not spending all this extra money to least this building is the will of God for us. Through different things, some of them miraculously God has shown us this is His will for us. It will cost a lot more than we realize. But I believe it is God's will for us. But I don't believe it's to make things easier for us for more comfortable. I believe it's because God wants to stretch our faith and I believe He is giving it to us so we can do more ministry for Him and some of that ministry will be uncomfortable for us. Some of it will be hard. But God will change our hearts and make us open to do His will.
Henry Blackabee in his book Experiencing God shares this about absolute surrender to the will of God.
“God frequently requires adjustments in areas of your life you have never considered or been open to in the past. You may have heard someone say something like this: "Don't ever tell God something you will not do. That is what He will ask you to do." God is not looking for ways to make you squirm. He does, however, want to be Lord of your life. Whenever you find a place in your life where you refuse to allow His Lordship, that is the place He will go to work. He is interested in absolute surrender...God will continue to work on your until you are willing for Him to be Lord of all.”
You will have to make major adjustment in you life to go with God and do His will. To really go after this and do this 100% we will have to make major adjustments.
Circumstances - Job, home, finances
relationships - family, friends,
thinking - prejudices, methods(A lot of things we do in the church are not even biblical. I am willing to do and try anything as long as it's according to the word of God)
commitments - family , church, job, plans
actions- prayer life, giving, serving, helping others
Jim Elliot - "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
Bob Pierce - (World Vision/Samaritans Purse) "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."
Oswald Smith (Missionary to Canada) "I want thy plan, O God, for my life. May I be happy and contented whether in the homeland or in the foreign field, whether married or alone, in happiness in sorrow, health or sickness, prosperity or adversity, I want thy plan, for my life I want it oh I want it."
C.T. Studd (Missionary to China) "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, than no sacrifice is too great for me to give for Him."
There will come a day when God's Kingdom comes that we will completely and totally know the will of God and do the will of God everyday.
Jesus was totally committed to God's will. He prayed "Father not my will but your will be done."
“God I want to do your will.”
Each day pray these two things:
1. “God help me to know your will.”
2. “God help me to do your will.”
