Fix Your Prayers
Matthew 6:9-15
Intro. Have you ever had the opportunity to use room service in a hotel? I can’t say that I have, but the principle sounds wonderful. All you do is pick up the phone and somebody is ready to bring you breakfast, lunch, dinner, a chocolate milkshake, whatever your heart desires and your stomach will tolerate. Or, with another simple movement of your wrist, someone will come and get your dirty laundry and bring it back clean, or your wrinkled suit will disappear and return neatly pressed. How neat is that? That’s the concept some people have of prayer. We have created God in the image of a divine bellhop. Prayer is the ultimate room service and we have a direct line. We don’t even have to tip the server and everything is charged to that great credit card in the sky. As we look at the Sermon on the Mount and another Quick Sermon for Permanent Fixes, Jesus tells us to fix our prayer lives. He answers that all important question - what should I pray for? I know so many Christians who have said that one of the greatest barriers to their prayer lives was the simple fact that they didn’t know what to pray for. After this morning you won’t be able to use that as an excuse. We’ll move rather quickly through Matthew 6:9-15, but I encourage you to go back and spend some serious study time in this prayer. I have been informed in my study by a book called The Prayer that God Answers by Michael Youssef and while it must be read critically, it is an excellent guide to a deeper understanding of the Lord’s prayer.
Jesus gives this prayer as a model, but it is obvious that he does not mean for us to memorize it and use it every time we pray. I know that for two reasons. 1) He has just finished condemning those who pray with vain repetitions. He would not turn around and give us a repetition of our own. 2) and the strongest reason, I never find any of the apostles quoting the Lord’s prayer, even though we have prayers recorded, they do not pray this pray. Clearly it is a model, but not a mantra. It is to teach us what we should pray for. Let’s read the prayer together and then we will look at some specific phrases.
Matt 6:9-15 “In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your 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 do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Our Father is how Jesus begins this prayer and it is important for us to remember that God is our Father. This is a special time when we can come and talk to God and He is our Father. There are times when God is “God Almighty,” times when He is called the “Lord of Hosts,” but at prayer time, He is properly called “our father.” There is an implied relationship in that phrase, too. And the deeper that relationship is, the more powerful and intimate your prayer will be. And how do you think that relationship is deepened? Yup, through prayer, among other things.
In Heaven. We must realize that we are speaking to God who is in heaven, not on earth. He is not limited by our earthly restraints of time and space. We are communicating with God who controls all things. Prayer is a bridge from the limits and confines of earth and this life to the infinite resources of heaven.
Hallowed be Your name. While God is our father, he is also in heaven. We are in the throne room of the creator of the Universe. We would be well advised to remember what. A. W. Tozer says, “When prayer becomes too glib, we are no doubt talking to ourselves.” We must bring a sense of reverence to our prayers. This is God, the only one who could dwell in the Holy of Holies. The one of whom the angels sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” He is king of kings and Lord of Lords and we enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Many have asked if the Christian can pray for the kingdom to come now that the church has been established. They say this part of Jesus’s prayer is now void. Let us be very careful about declaring a part of this prayer void when Jesus gave it as a model to His disciples who were in training to be leaders in the church. Certainly, a large part of this request was realized on Pentecost, but we can still pray that God’s kingdom will come to reign in the lives of individuals we know. We can still pray that God’s kingdom will reign in this country and that those who do not know about the kingdom, will come to know its power. It is God’s will that all should come to repentance that none should perish. We can still pray for that will and indeed we should. In Heaven, God’s will is perfectly carried out every time. We know that is not the case here on Earth and as long as that remains true, this part of Jesus’s prayer remains valid for us.
Give us this day our daily bread. It is vital that we remember that God gives us our spiritual blessings, but also that we depend on Him for our physical blessings. It is not our money that we spend or our food that we eat, but it is God who has blessed us with the ability to work and earn that money or who has blessed our gardens with fruit and vegetables. This is one of the reasons many have a tradition of praying before meals. We thank God for our food. It is important that we realize that, not just say it. We look to God for our blessings and are content with what He provides for us.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
Jesus speaks of this again at the end of the passage to emphasize that this may well be the most important part of our prayers. We must realize first and foremost that every one of us needs forgiveness from God. When we ask God for forgiveness, we admit that we are sinners and that we have done less than our best in serving God. But Jesus also reminds us that we need God’s help to forgive other people. That does not come naturally, but it is a necessity for Christians. Refusing to forgive other people hinders our own relationship with God. Our debt to God was far greater than we could ever repay and it is only through His grace and the blood of Jesus that we are able to stand before God and ask Him to forgive our debt. Have you ever thought about how rude that is? If you buy a car and the later walk into the bank and ask them to just forgive the rest of that loan, how do you think they will respond? Yet that is what we do with God. We owe a debt that we cannot pay and we have to audacity to ask God to simply wipe it away. Now maybe you understand the humility with which we must approach God. Too many times we rattle off, “Forgive us of our sins.”without really stopping to think about what we are asking. When we truly realize what it means to be forgiven, then we realize that once we have been forgiven, we must forgive others.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. Each of us has a tendency to sin. Left to our own devices, we will at some point choose to break God’s law and sin. Without God’s help, we will self destruct as we follow our own sinful desires. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak and our first line of defense against temptation is to pray that God will help us steer clear of temptation. Our battle is not a flesh and blood battle, but a spiritual one. We are at war with the forces of darkness. But God has promised to protect and shield us if we will ask Him to. We must look to God for protection from indiscrete words, gossip, backbiting, anger, jealousy, discontent, rage, revenge, lust, envy, lying, deceit and apathy.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen All things belong to God. All things were created for His glory. We are His people, the sheep of his pasture, the Psalmist says. God’s will will be accomplished through His power, His kingdom, and His purpose. The rule of God is the true purpose of our prayer. Prayer is not for us to get what we want from God, like room service, but for us learn what God wants from us. I love the illustration E. Stanley Jones uses. He says, “Prayer is surrender - surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from a boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.” Pray here
This morning I want to ask you, is your will in perfect alignment with God? If it isn’t, then you need to get it there. And your first step is prayer. But prayer without actions is like an empty wagon, a lot of noise, but no load. We must also do something about our problem. If you need to place your will in line with God’s you need to ask yourself if you are doing what He commands. Spend time in prayer and then live out your commitment. Whether you need to be baptized or come back to Him this is your opportunity.
