(Play video of children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlBK97Q4Ae8 - timestamp .12 thru .39)
Jesus prayed a lot. According to one researcher, there are 17 times in the Gospels tell us He prayed. Among those 17 times, we see that Jesus prayed… Before He chose His 12 disciples. (Luke 6:12-13); He prayed before healing the crowds. (Mark 1:35); before feeding the 5,000. (Mark 6:41); before healing the man who was deaf and mute. (Mark 7:34); before bringing Lazarus back to life. (John 11:41-43); He prayed early in the Morning (Mark 1:35); He prayed late at Night (Luke 6:12); Jesus prayed before the cross. (Luke 22:39-42); And He prayed ON the cross. (Luke 23:34); And now He’s in heaven - where Heb 7:25 says that He constantly interceding for us. (Bruce A. Shields DD; with some modification)
His disciples couldn’t help but notice how much time Jesus spent in prayer, and so Luke 11:1 we’re told that when He finished praying, “one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray…’” And – of course - He does. And when Jesus taught His disciples this prayer, He wasn’t trying to put words in their mouths. He was teaching them what MAKES a prayer a prayer!
When I was a kid, our church repeated this Lord’s Prayer every Sunday and I’d like you to repeat it with me now: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and glory forever. Amen.”
As I was working on this sermon a question came into my mind: Why would that disciple ask Jesus to teach him how to pray? Doesn’t he know how? You’d think that praying would be as natural as breathing.
(PAUSE) Well… I have a theory about that. My theory is, that people who love God WANT to talk to Him, but too often they’re afraid they’ll mess it up, and they want to figure out how not to mess up. There’s this belief that if you’re going to pray to God, you’ve got to do it right because, if you don’t get it right… He won’t listen to you!
ILLUS: It’s kind of like a poem I once read: “The proper way for a man to pray,” said Deacon Samuel Keys, “And the only proper attitude - is down upon your knees.” “No, I should say the way to pray,” Said the Reverend Dr. Wise, “Is standing straight with outstretched arms and rapt and upturned eyes.”
A man standing nearby smiled “Last year I fell in my neighbor’s well, headfirst,” said Cyrus Brown, “And both my heels were stickin’ up - and my head was pointin’ down. And I made a prayer right then and there, the best I’d ever said. The prayin’est prayer I ever prayed was standin’ on my head.”
My point is this: you don’t have to perfect when you pray - YOU JUST NEED TO PRAY. And, for the most part, if you pray you can’t mess it up.
That said, there are couple of ways you actually CAN mess up in prayer. They are issues that can rob us of the BEST kind of prayers we can have. And right here in the sermon on the mount (and of course - in Lord’s prayer) Jesus teaches us how to avoid being robbed.
One of those pitfalls of prayer is when people end up viewing it as a magical incantation. Just say the right words… and “abracadabra, presto change-o” and you’ve got the perfect prayer. But - in the sermon on the mount Jesus says: that’s not going to work! “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” Matthew 6:7
But - being repetitious in prayer - appeals to a lot of people. There’s something about saying the same thing over and over again in prayer that makes people believe they’re being more holy and reverent.
ILLUS: Years ago a lot of people would pray while repeating “O God” “O God almighty” and “O LORD” and “O Gracious Father” over and over again throughout their prayers. When they prayed, they sounded a little like this:
O Almighty God, our Father who is in heaven. Holy be your name O gracious God. Your kingdom come – O yes Lord, O yes - Your will be done (yes God), on earth as it is in heaven. O God and Father, give us this day – Oh yes Great Father - our daily bread and forgive us our debts – our wonderous Lord - as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation (Dear God) but deliver us from evil. For Yours, Great God in heaven - is the Kingdom, and the power, and glory forever. We praise You almighty God… Amen.”
Have you ever heard anyone pray like that? I have. But I don’t think they ever talked to anyone else that way. It seemed these folks were hoping to communicate their urgency and devotion to God as they built their prayers to the point of feverish intensity. The repetition made them feel more holy.
ILLUS: And this week I stumbled across a YouTube video that advertised: “1hr Powerful Catholic Prayer” and I thought… “This should prove interesting.” So I opened the video and listened to the first 4 minutes or so… and then I skipped ahead a bit, and skipped ahead a few more times because I began to see a pattern. Do you know what they did in that video? They repeated the Lord’s Prayer - over and over again - for an ENTIRE hour. And they called that – A POWERFUL PRAYER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q60M3EgEno)
But that’s not prayer… that’s a recital. Prayer is supposed to be a conversation. Now, granted we’re doing all the talking so it’s kind of one-sided, but, we’re are talking to God.
(PAUSE) The guy who repeats himself over and over - in a conversation can get pretty boring after awhile because that kind of person isn’t talking TO me… he’s talking AT me. He’s not connecting with you because that’s not really his goal. Praying the same phrases over and over again can rob us. It gives us the false impression that we’re connecting with God while (at the same time) denying them the DEEPER intimacy we really should want. Prayer should be a time when we can be open and honest with God.
Another pitfall in prayer, is forgetting who we’re talking to. Who are we talking to? We’re talking to OUR FATHER. That’s how the Lord’s Prayer starts out “Our Father who is in heaven.” And that should frame how we think of the rest of our prayer time. He’s not an impersonal God; He’s not indifferent to our needs; HE IS OUR FATHER!
A little later in the sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:9-11) Jesus asks “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will YOUR FATHER who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” When Jesus uses the term “FATHER” He’s speaking of a Father figure who cares for you. He listens to you, and He’s willing to give you good things when you ask Him.
I love it when children pray because (unlike a too many adults) they BELIEVE that God is like a loving Father and He LISTENS to their prayers.
ILLUS: An 8-year-old boy who told of the day he came home from school with a stuffed animal he had won at the class party. His mother was a bit surprised, and she asked: “How did that happen?” And he explained, “Well, the teacher put all our names together in a jar, and then picked one out.” Then – looking a little guilty - he admitted: “But I cheated… I prayed!”
Too often adults DON’T “CHEAT” because they don’t pray. They don’t expect an answer… so why bother? But, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His crowds to expect answers: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Your heavenly Father loves you… and listens to you. So pray. Someone once noted that We should “Expect an answer when we pray. If no answer is desired, why pray? True prayer has in it a strong element of expectancy.” And so – PRAY - knowing you’re talking to your Heavenly Father.
Related to that, is the pitfall of thinking our prayers are too small for God to bother with. All through the day, we experience annoyances and conflicts that folks just don’t take to God because they hate to bother Him. It seems somehow petty to trouble God with something so insignificant.
But here’s the deal – if something’s big enough to bother you, it’s big enough to pray about.
Someone once observed: “I have sometimes feared it is presumptuous to take up God’s time with my problems. But, the Lord’s Prayer is as specific as bread and debt.” (Celestine Sibley in "Day by Day")
Now, there’s one last thing about prayer that we need to consider, and this ONE THING … can hinder our prayers. It can deprive our PRAYERS of being as deep and meaningful as we’d like.
(PAUSE) “Our Father, who art in heaven – hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come… Thy (now what’s the rest of that phrase again) … Oh yeah “THY WILL be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Do you remember when Jesus prayed in the Garden before His crucifixion He prayed “Not my will, but thine be done” Luke 22:42? Did you realize that there can be a difference between YOUR will and GOD’S will? I realize that can be hard to imagine… but it’s true.
And if you don’t know the difference between YOUR will and GOD’S will - your prayers can end up being frustrating. Someone once noted that: What we usually pray to God, is NOT that His will be done, but that He approves ours. (Helga Bergold Gross)
In other words, too many people pray: “Not YOUR will… but MINE be done.” Now, I don’t want THAT (do you?) So – how can I tell if I’ve been praying in accordance with MY WILL rather than HIS????
Well… there’s one SURE way to be sure: If I’m upset or mad or angry that something hasn’t gone MY WAY, then I’ve been praying according to MY WILL!
James 4:2-3 says “YOU desire and do not have, so you murder. YOU covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. YOU do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on YOUR passions.”
Notice what James says: YOU… desire. YOU… covet. YOU… do not have. It’s all about YOU (or me). And so – when I don’t get MY WILL (what I want) then I’ll tend to get mad… I’m difficult to be around, and I’ll tend to fight and quarrel.
When I GET UPSET, that is a sure-fire way of knowing that I either haven’t prayed about the situation, OR I’m not getting MY WAY. I’m not getting MY WILL. “I don’t care if it’s GOD’S WILL or not. It’s MY WILL that’s being thwarted and I’m not going to be happy until MY WILL is honored.”
It’s happened to me… and I’m pretty sure it’s happened to you. We just have to be aware that when it happens, we recognize our anger for what it is. when we get angry… WE NEED TO PRAY; AND WHEN WE PRAY – WE NEED TO SAY: “Not my will, but thine be done.” That is what DEEPER PRAYER is all about!
CLOSE: I want to close the sermon with the story of a man who didn’t like praying out loud. Now, I could never figure out whether he felt like he didn’t know how to pray, or if he just didn’t feel worthy to pray. I just couldn’t get him to pray.
But one day HE PRAYED… and it was the deepest prayer a man could pray.
When I was serving at the South Salem Church of Christ (just outside Union City, IN) ended up being the dean of the Church Camp over in Houston, OH. I lined up my teachers and my staff and my missionary, and a couple in our congregation volunteered for Recreation. Their names were Gary and Christie… and they were just the nicest folks. They were newlyweds and … well Christie was pregnant (very pregnant).
So,m Sunday night they come out to do recreation with kids at camp, and everybody is having a good time - but it’s a really hot night. Because they lived so close to the camp, Gary and Christie went home that night, and while they were in bed… Christie bled. That was obviously NOT a good thing - so they went to see their doctor. He told her that the child had separated from the womb and that was a good chance she’d lose the child. She was to stay at home and stay in bed.
They were both devastated, but Gary came to camp that morning anyway. He wanted to talk to me and he told me he didn’t know what to do… and asked me to pray for Christie. And I told him I would - if he would. Bear in mind, he didn’t like praying, but I explained that if ever he was to pray… this was the moment. I was insistent … and finally he prayed.
Then we told the 4th and 5th graders at camp what had happened and asked them to pray. When you tell 4th and 5th graders to pray for someone they care it’s like saying “sickem” to a dog.
The next morning, Gary and Christie went back to their Dr. He examined Christie again… and he was shocked. He explained to her that what had happened (the child separating in the womb) was a rarity, but what had happened since then was rarer still. The child had reattached itself to her womb… and was now as secure as ever. She could do whatever activity she wanted to and it would be OK.
They came back to camp that day and told the kids what had happened. We had more baptisms that year than any other camp I’ve ever worked - all because a Godly husband… and a camp of 4th/5th graders prayed a deep prayer.
INVITATION
