When You Pray
November 14,1999 Sermon at A.B.C.
Introduction:
The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Do we do this? God wants us to fellowship with Him. He wants us to share everything in our lives with Him. He wants us to talk to Him just as we do to our wife, husband, brothers, sisters, parents or children. Prayer is a must in order to be an effective Christian in this evil world. We cannot live this life in our on strength. God wants us to rely on Him and the power that He provides through the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave the model prayer. He said to pray in this manner. Yet, it does not have to be the identical prayer, word for word to be effective. He said to pray in this manner. What did He really mean by this? Today, I would like to look at the Lord’s Prayer and see just what He meant for us to pray for.
Reading of the Text:
Matthew 6:9-13:
9: After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10: Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11: Give us this day our daily bread.
12: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
I. Begin by acknowledging God for who He is:
A. He is our Father (Prodigal son’s loving father is a picture of God)
Luke 15:
20: And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21: And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22: But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
B. And yet, He is the Lord God, the Holy One.
Isaiah 43:
3: For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
14: Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15: I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
* This should both humble us and give us great confidence, to think that the Holy God of Israel, the Creator, Savior and King, loves us so much that He provided a way for us to become His children, and as His children, we can call Him Father. He gave His Son to die in our place and pay the price for our sins, so we wouldn’t have to die the second death which is eternal hell.
Hebrews 4:
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Illustration:
When John F. Kennedy was president of the United States, he had a young son named John Kennedy Jr. better known as "John John". "John John’s" relationship to JFK was different from all the great world leaders of that time. Many times he would come into the Oval Office unannounced calling out to "Daddy", and yet presidents, premiers and even kings were only allowed in by special appointment. Then, of course, they were expected to address JFK respectfully as "Mr. President". The president’s children had priviledges that no others ever had. Likewise, we are priviledged to come to God’s throne anytime, day or night and call Him Father.
II. Seek His will for His kingdom: This should be our first request of our Heavenly Father once we have come to the throne of grace. His answer to this request could and should direct the rest of our prayer.
Matthew 6:
31: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Application:
I allowed myself to get into what I believe is error in my prayer life a few years ago. It was done in ignorance and even innocence but it was error just the same. God shows me so much about my relationship with Him when I observe my relationship with my own 10 year old daughter. One day I was having a talk with my daughter. It was a serious conversation. She would ask me a question, and I would answer her as she respectfully listened to me, her father. Then, suddenly, one of our household pets rudely interrupted our conversation, and she started talking to the pet and took her focus off of me. I kept talking, but she had been distracted and was no longer listening to me. When I regained her attention, she tried to make the dog go away which made the problem even worse. I finally told to her to be still and wait while I took the dog into another room. When I returned, I told her to listen to me and pay no attention to anything else. Then, we finished our talk uninterrupted. God showed me that I had been doing Him that way. Sometimes I would come to my Heavenly Father in prayer, and in the middle of our most precious times, I might start binding and casting the devil out or even speaking directly to a problem or situation. What an insult to my precious Heavenly Father. Just as I took the dog out of my daughters presence, God showed me that he was fully able to protect any of us from Satan. There may be a time for that in the most desperate situations but Jesus never ever did it when speaking to His Father. Since that time, when I hear anyone speak to Satan or even the situation during prayer time with the Father, I silently start praying for the person speaking. I believe this is a teaching in the church today that needs to be corrected.
Illustration:
When I played football, I didn’t worry about the obstacles between me and the goal line, I focused on getting to the goal line for the touchdown. I didn’t worry about getting tackled, injured or fumbling the ball, there was no time for that. Were these all possibilities? Yes, but I didn’t worry about them, and as I was seeking the goal line, many times I would find a path to get there. The obstacles and temporary setbacks would take care of themselves. When we focus on God’s will for His kingdom, our needs will be taken care of, so Jesus tells us not to worry about them.
III. Ask Him and thank Him for meeting our daily needs. Even though Jesus told us to ask our Father for our daily bread in verse 11, we just read in verse 32 where He said that our Father already knows what our needs are. But He wants us to ask Him, so He can have the pleasure of providing for us, His children.
Philippians 4:
19: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Genesis 22:
14: And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh (the Lord will provide): as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
IV. Ask for His forgiveness and confess that as His children, we must forgive others. This is similar to asking for our daily needs when He already knows them. Our forgiveness has already been provided at the cross 2,000 years ago. Every sin you have ever committed or will ever commit is already forgiven. This is not just for your past sins, but for present and future sins as well. You see, all of our sins were in the future when Christ died for them. Though they are already forgiven, it gives Him pleasure for us to show our love for Him by confessing our sins to Him and thanking Him for His the forgiveness provided through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Luke 17:
4: And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
*The Lord wants all of us as believers to love and forgive others in the same way that He does us. He said if we love Him we will keep His commandments. These are to "Love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself." So how many times has God forgiven you and I? The amount has no limit, and He wants us to do the same.
V. Ask Him to protect us from Satan, the tempter. Remember that we battle not against flesh and blood. Satan is our enemy. He tries to tempt us just as he did Adam and Eve. He even tried to tempt Jesus though He did not fall into the temptation as they did. Satan is still the same today. He is a liar and he comes to kill, steal and destroy.
Ephesians 6:
12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
I Peter 5:
8: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
9: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
*This verse says to resist the devil, not to have a verbal battle with him. We shouldn’t yell and scream at Satan in our prayers or any other time. Jesus simply asked the Heavenly Father to deliver us from evil (or the evil one). God is big enough to handle it from there. I believe this is another teaching in the church that has gotten out of hand. I believe that the rebuking and casting out of demons has been turned into a game in many churches today, and we shouldn’t misuse and abuse the power of the Holy Spirit. When someone is demon possessed, it will be obvious to all, and in those times the believer should take authority in the name of Jesus. God’s power is awesome, and it isn’t a game to be played for fun.
Jude 1:
9: Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
VI. End by acknowledging that everything is done for Him:
A. For the furtherance of His kingdom
B. Only by His power (not our’s)
C. To bring Him glory.
Conclusion:
Prayer is a very important part of life to the believer. We should not take it lightly. So many times, we are guilty of reciting the Lord’s Prayer without really thinking about everything it is saying. It covers basically everything that we need to pray for in some way or another. It begins by acknowledging God, our Father, and it ends by acknowledging God, our Father. To sum it up, we should seek His will and always give Him the praise and glory for everything. He will always lead us in the way we should go, when we pray as He told us to.
Invitation:
Would you please stand as Pat comes to lead us in the invitational hymn? If God has spoke to you through the message this morning, and you need to come forward for salvation, now is the time. If you would like to become a part of Angus Baptist Church by letter or statement, we would love to have you. If you just need to come forward for prayer, please come.
