Drawing Closer to God
The Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13
January 9, 2022
As we’ve started the new year, I don’t want to ask you about your New Year’s resolutions. If most of us are normal, whatever that means, then half of us have already given up on those lofty resolutions.
Instead of resolutions, I want to talk about ways we can draw closer to God. I’m convinced that we’re called to be in an intimate relationship with God, yet that scares many people - - - - and because of that we give God lip service and really don’t connect with Him as we should and could.
God doesn’t make it difficult, we’re the ones who do! We have lots of opportunities and ways to move closer to God, but we struggle with it and because of that we don’t experience the blessings that are available for us.
Last week, we began looking at the wise men meeting Jesus for the first time and the intense and passionate joy they experienced. I don’t know about you, but sometimes you read a story or meet someone and you say . . . YES! I want what they have! I want that relationship with God! Wouldn’t you want that type of joy?
As we move through the next few weeks, I’m going to try to get as practical as I possibly can, so we can move closer to God together. I’ve talked about prayer and plans before, and the next few weeks may not be very different, but I want to do something different I believe the Lord impressed upon me in December.
We’re going to look at different prayers from the Bible and see how we can use those prayers to help us move closer to God. Then we’re going to do something very different at the end of the message for the next 4 weeks! Hopefully, this helps us experience God’s presence on a regular, consistent basis.
Today and next week, we’re going to look at the Lord’s Prayer as a means to move us closer to God in prayer. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus said - - -
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. - Matthew 6
It’s going to take us 2 weeks to move through this prayer. We’re going to break down this prayer and see how we can use it for ourselves to draw closer to God.
So, we start out with that first line, which is packed - - -
9 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
I look at this as the praise and worship portion of our prayer.
The word “hallowed” means “honored as holy or to revere something.” So often we jump into prayer and give God our list of wants and needs without recognizing who God is. He’s not a genie to grant us our every wish. So, it’s great to start our prayer by honoring and praising God. This helps us to get our heart, mind, spirit and body into the prayer.
We also view God as Father. Now, this can be dangerous for some folks, because when they think about a father, they didn’t have a great earthly father and for some that gets in the way of looking at God as a Father. Yet, I really do believe we need to look at who God is, and that’s part of the prayer.
God is not a capricious, mean spirited Father. God loves us, died for us, adopted us, gives us a full inheritance, is always there for us, loves us unconditionally, offers us grace, mercy, strength and more. That’s how we can look at God as our Father. He is giving and loving and always with us.
God is your creator, yet He wants an intimate relationship with us, which really is what this series is all about. It’s to help us draw closer to God on a daily basis.
So, we start this prayer by praising and worshiping God. We have reverence and awe for Him, yet, we have a relationship which is intimate with God. We know and trust that God is not a distant powerful tyrannical king, but He’s a loving, compassionate and merciful Father who deeply loves us.
You can use other scripture to lead you into prayer. Psalm 100 would be good - -
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!
3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!
5 For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations. - Psalm 100
That’s a great scripture to start you off. Psalms 95-100 are good. Psalm 145 would be another great starter. Many of the psalms will work. The words we choose have power; don’t be hesitant or afraid to worship and praise God for who He is and for the blessings you’ve received. You can also sing a song to God.
Before we move one, let me add one more thought about the section, hallowed be thy name. I really believe in calling people by the right name. For example, if someone tells me their name, that’s what I call them until they tell me differently. Names have meaning and power. God’s name carries great power.
When we hallow the name of God, we are honoring His name as holy and awesome. As we pray, consider how God is holy and what names for God remind you of his holiness. There are lots of names for God that we can use. It also means we honor God’s name by not callously throwing it around and desecrating His holy name.
The next section of the prayer is - - -
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
I think we know enough about the world we live in to know that we’re in trouble. There’s a lot of great people out there and there’s a lot of not so nice people too. We believe God is going to return soon. But soon is relative. Paul thought it was going to happen soon, and we’re still waiting 2000 years later.
What we want in this part of the prayer is for God’s kingdom to be apparent in this world. Even though you might say it’s obvious that God rules the world - - - to many in this world, it’s not the least bit obvious.
So, part of the prayer is to actually pray for more of God on Earth. Pray that you trust that God is your King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s your Savior and your Master.
John 15:5 tells us - - -
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5
It’s a reminder we can’t do anything apart from God’s presence in our lives. This is His kingdom, so we must be connected to Him in order to accomplish His will.
We learn to be open to the will of God and build His kingdom on earth. We ask God to guide the surrender of our will and place our trust completely in Him. In desiring God’s will above our own, we let go of our control. It’s only after our surrender that we truly become who God has called us to be. Only then can we love as God does and allow His kingdom to flourish.
Then we seek God’s will. That’s not an easy one, is it? I mean, I want what I want! And I want God to bless me because I think I’ve been good. It’s kind of like having the view that God is our Santa. But we really ask for God’s will to be done. It’s what Jesus asked for in the garden. In Matthew 26, Jesus prayed - - -
39 Jesus fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” - Matthew 26:39
That’s asking for God’s will to be done over mine. There’s really no better example of that in the Bible. Jesus tells us to pray for God’s will over our own because the ultimate goal of prayer is not to convince God of our heart but to align our heart with His. Praying God’s will to be done in our situation puts His agenda before our own. And again, that’s not always easy to do!
It doesn’t mean we don’t pray for our hearts desires, for our needs and hopes. We pray for healing and health and relationships and jobs and more. Of course we do. But ultimately our main desire should be for God’s will to prevail. And that means His will is not always our will.
We should desire His will to be done and for us to not stand in the way of it by disobeying or sinning. We ask God to guide us as we surrender our will and place our trust completely in Him. In desiring God’s will above our own, we let go of our control. And we all know how difficult this can be.
Before we pray for our interests, we pray for God’s interests, for His kingdom and His will to be done in our lives. We can pray to be His light and salt in the world. That we would remain connected to the vine. That we can demonstrate His grace and love, His joy and power to the world. That His kingdom is made visible in me and my family.
We can pray for each family member to allow His kingdom to flow through them and that we would accept His will over ours. That we would understand His plans and thoughts are not ours. That He sees the big picture way better than we do.
We see things only through our limited view, but God sees more than we do, so we pray for ourselves and our family to experience and to submit to His will as we demonstrate His kingdom to the world around us.
OK - - - that’s where we are going to stop today, but we’re not done with the sermon yet. Now, we’re going to do something we don’t do . . . I know this is strange and different and maybe out of your comfort zone. I’m not going to ask you to get up or even talk to anyone . . . well . . . I am going to ask you to talk to 1 person - - - GOD!
For about the next 3-5 minutes I’m going to lead you in a guided prayer. I’m going to give you some cues for what to pray for, I will interject a couple of words along the way to help you.
We’ve never done this before, and maybe never will again, but we’re going to try this for the next few weeks to help reinforce ways to pray this way and for you to believe that you can do it!
You can stand, sit, kneel, raise your hands, fold your hands, close your eyes, open your eyes. None of it matters. Form doesn’t matter, only your heart does.
So - - - here we go . . . Let’s start with praising God for who He is . . . .
9 OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
Thank God for loving you
for adopting you
for calling you His
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
Worship God
Praise and adore God
Give thanks to God
God is your - - - -
Savior, Healer, Provider, Forgiver, Strength
10 YOUR KINGDOM COME
Help me to see and experience your kingdom on earth.
Help me to demonstrate your kingdom
Help me to draw closer to you
Help me admit you are the vine, I’m the branch
YOUR WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Pray you’d accept God’s will over yours.
Open your heart and spirit to know your will.
Surrender yourself to God - give Him all of you.
Help us to accept His will.
