September 2, 2001 Mat. 6:9-13
“What do I say when I pray?
INTRODUCTION
I am not a talker by nature. Some people just bubble over with things to say. They find it easy to start up conversations, and before you know it, they have established a new friendship. That’s not me. I struggle to find words to say to people. Some of you may have a hard time believing that because of how much time I spend talking on Sunday. You might be wishing that my silent personality would show through a little bit more on Sundays so that I wouldn’t speak quite as long. The reason that I have so much to say on Sundays is because I’ve spend all week thinking about that I’m going to say, and I’m talking about something that I know.
But there’s another subject that I knew very little about when I was growing up – still haven’t figured it out – that kept me quiet. That subject was relationships, especially relationships with girls. I didn’t know how to talk to them. I didn’t know what to say. When there were times at school – parties or banquets – that you had to invite a date, I panicked. That would mean that I would have to call a girl up on the phone to ask her to go with me. That was bad enough, but then what if she said, “Yes”. That would mean that I would have to spend an hour or two actually carrying on a conversation with her. What would I say?! Dick Van Dyke’s character in “Mary Poppins” must have had a similar dilemna. His dad’s answer to the problem was to give him one word to say when he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Do you remember what the word was? Supercalifragilisticexpialidoscious.
As difficult as it may be to start a conversation with a girl – who to you is the most perfect creature who has ever walked the earth – how much more difficult it is to start a conversation with God – who really is the most perfect one in all the universe?! What do you say to God? Supercalifragilisticexpia- lidoscious just doesn’t seem to fit.
Jesus’ disciples must have had a similar problem. They came to Him one day and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In response, Jesus gave the same words recorded here in Matthew 6. We know it as “The Lord’s Prayer”. We’re going to look at this prayer today to learn 6 topics of conversation that we can talk about when we pray God. In the process, we might even gain some insight into how to successfully communicate with that special person in our lives.
Before we go any farther, I need to make you aware of two cautions. The first is that “The Lord’s Prayer” is just a starting point. Although beautiful, it is like the first books that you read. “See spot run. Watch Jane fall. The ball is red.” It contains all the components of conversation, but it is not personal. It gets awfully old saying this prayer over and over to God, just like it gets old saying supercalifragilisticexpialidoscious. This was meant as a starting point for you to build on.
Second, regardless of whether you’re talking with an individual or with God, you can never use conversation as a tool to manipulate – to get them to do for you what they would not normally have done. From time to time, you may be able to manipulate people, but you will NEVER be able to manipulate God. Saying the right things in the right order will not get God’s attention if your heart is not in the right place. He is God. You are human. He is in control. You are not. Always remember that.
Having said that, let’s learn how to talk to Him.
1. Tell Him how great He is – “Our Father…”
When talking to a girl, find something to compliment. [compliment some of the people in the congregation]
Not talking about flattery. Flattery won’t get you anywhere in the long-term.
The greatest compliment of all is when you compliment someone for their character. That’s the kind of compliment or praise that we give to God.
In some relationships, you have to search really hard to find something to say. This is not the case with God.
Magnify His qualities – love, holiness, beauty, mercy, justice.
Why would you want to pray to someone who isn’t great anyway?
Because of who He is, you want to spend time around Him and get to know Him even better. “As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee.”
2. Tell Him how thankful you are for what He has done
An attitude of thankfulness will greatly benefit each and every relationship that you have.
Be thankful for the small things – the everyday things.
Thankfulness to God shows Him that we are being changed into people who can appreciate what God has given us. It frees Him to give us more of His blessings.
Why should God give us more blessings when we haven’t even thanked Him for the things that He has done already?
You may think at first that you have a short list of things to be thankful for, but in reality, your conversation could center around this for hours. [give examples]
3. Tell Him how sorry you are for what you have done – “Forgive us our debts…”
You are going to make mistakes in any relationship. In your best efforts to further that friendship, you may do things that offend or even embarrass her. While the relationship is still not solid, you may chase after another for a while. In order to undo the damage, you will need to ask for forgiveness.
Silent treatment from a girl – horrible! “What did I do?” And you may sincerely have no idea what you did. As bad as silent treatment from a girl is, the silent treatment from God is far worse. You may sincerely not know what you did. Come in humility and quietness, and let Him speak to you.
List of sins.
Evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder
Adultery pornography deceit envy
Slander pride greed jealousy
Selfishness favoritism cliques drunkeness
Bitterness rage & anger gossip unforgiveness
Laziness unkept promises hate stinginess
Not loving God with all that we are
Not loving people as much as we love ourselves
Not doing the good you know to do (James 4:17)
“Why should I ask for forgiveness? I’m no worse than everyone else!” If your child has been rolling around in the mud, he needs a bath. You know that. But he comes to the door and says, “I don’t need a bath. I’m no more dirty than all my friends who were rolling around in the mud with me.”
Unconfessed and unforgiven sin prevents any relationship from progressing further.
4. Tell Him what you would like Him to do for you – “Give us this day…”
In puppy dog love, a person will do just about anything that the other wants. God’s love for us is Father/child love. He wants to give us what is best for us.
Reminds us that we are totally dependent on God.
The model prayer starts small in its requests – bread for today – but God also wants us to ask big. A Sunday school class was talking about the day that Jesus encountered a blind man. Jesus asked the man what He wanted Jesus to do for him. The teacher looked at one of the boys in his class and asked, “Johnny, if you had been in that situation, what would you have asked for.” Johnny answered, “I would have asked for a cane and a seeing-eye dog.” Some of us ask for things that are too small in our prayers. We need to be like that blind man who asked, “O Lord, that I may see. That’s what I want.”
“Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings!” – Phillips Brooks. Leadership, vol 12, no 3 “Eye has not seen…”
5. Tell Him what you would be willing to do for Him – “Your kingdom come, your will be done…”
Try to find out more about the other person so that you can do more things for them. (i.e. what movies, books, flavor of ice cream do they like)
Not a bargaining thing: “I’ll do this for you if you do this for me.” [illustration of man who is in a plane that is having mechanical problems. He makes all kinds of promises to God if God will just let his plane make it safely to the ground. Once the problem is solved, he begins to renig on those promises] No, it’s not a bargaining thing. It’s a submission thing. “I’ll obey you no matter what you do for me.”
The purpose of prayer is NOT to get my will done in heaven. The purpose of prayer is to get God’s will accomplished on earth.
The more time you spend around another person, the more you begin to think like them. The more time that you spend around God in prayer, the more you begin to think like Him and the more you are changed until what God wants is exactly what you want.
Eventually prayer becomes a time of you allowing God to communicate to you what He wants you to do for Him rather than you always telling Him what you want Him to do for you.
6. Tell Him how great He is again – “For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory…”
Kingdom – your prayers are about increasing God’s kingdom, not your’s. We’ll talk more about this another day, but one of the reasons that we don’t see more of our prayers answered is that we forget whose will is supposed to be accomplished through our prayers. We pray selfish prayers – centered around our lives and what we want for our own selfish advancement. Even when we pray for someone else to get well, we pray that way so that we won’t have to feel pain over the loss of that friend. Instead, if you’re going to pray that someone get well, pray that way so that God will get glory and that people will be drawn into relationship with God through that person’s sickness. And if more can be done for the kingdom of God through the death of that person, then allow God to make that decision. Pray that God’s kingdom will be furthered and strengthened whatever the outcome.
Also means that God is in control. He controls the forces of nature and the forces of man that enable Him to answer my prayers in a way that is in line with His plan to bring about His kingdom one day on this earth.
Power – God has the power to grant your requests. He can do anything. God has the power to sustain you even if He doesn’t grant your requests. And God has the power to take the struggle that you’re facing and use it to change you.
Glory – Prayer is about God showing Himself to you and to the world. It’s not about you looking good.
Forever – an eternal perspective; God’s perspective; seeing things from heaven’s point of view
Prayer is more about God’s PRESENCE than it is about God’s PRESENTS. It’s about getting Him not about getting stuff.
