The Way: In Prayer
I. Introduction
There is no higher honor in the ministry of God than prayer. Someone once said that prayer IS the higher work, the higher calling. In Chapter Six of Acts, the Apostles gathered together all the disciples and let them know that others needed to be brought up to take care of the basic needs of the people and their organization while the Apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
However, in this day and time, our schedules and ministries are pushing prayer out. In the early church instead of a short prayer followed by a long sermon, it was the other way around. It was a long prayer followed by a few words. Church gatherings lasted several hours, rather than an hour or so once or twice a week. Years ago people looked forward to going and meeting with God. They held a respect, a reverence, a fear, and love for the creator of the universe. Yet, sadly, today it is much different. We don’t have the same commitment to our God that Christians did in the first century, or even the 10th century.
Our schedules preclude or prevent any ‘good prayer time.’ Our agendas prohibit any real commitment to the Father in heaven. Rather, we throw up quick heartless prayer darts and end up spending more time praying to no one in particular that our initial short prayer to God will get answered.
Let me state it one more time. Prayer is the higher work! Everything else is preparation for your prayer relationship with the Father! Whatever you are doing outside of prayer is in preparation for prayer. Don’t neglect prayer.
Do you work? That’s so you can make money to survive so that you can pray. Do you study the Bible? That’s so you can understand how to pray. Everything we do is in preparation for a personal prayer relationship with the Father in heaven.
Let’s look at from the opposite direction. Has anyone ever told you, ‘I’ll pray for you’? Or, have you ever told someone that you would pray for them and you didn’t? That is a SIN! I firmly believe that we can compare that to eating the bread and drinking the cup in an unworthy manner (1 Corinthians 11:27). If you are guilty of doing this, then that probably is the number one reason for your own prayers not being answered.
Jesus never told anyone that He would pray for them, He simply prayed for them. Shouldn’t we be of the same mold? Rather than tooting our own horn and telling people we’ll pray for them shouldn’t we just pray for them? That way, our yes will be yes and our no will be no, and we will not eat or drink judgment onto ourselves. Amen?
There is only one recorded instance in the Gospels where Jesus actually told someone He prayed for them.
(Luke 22:32) But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
All the other times or instances of prayer were when Jesus was praying to the Father or talking about prayer. What do we learn from that? Don’t just say it, PRAY IT.
Jesus was and is our intercessor, He is our prayer warrior!
II. The Message
During His time on this earth Jesus personified prayer. He was PRAYER incarnate. And, now He is at the right hand of the Father forever making intercession for you and me. He is praying for you right now. The Holy Spirit is also at work in your life making intercession for you and those things that you need, and those things that you may not know that you need.
With a supreme team like that I don’t need the world and what it has to offer! I can have anything He wants me to have! [notice the He wants me to have.]
Jesus was and continues to be a prayer warrior on behalf of you and me. The Bible gives us many vivid descriptions of how and when Jesus prayed. Jesus advocated [support, encourage] prayer to maintain constant communication with the Father in heaven.
It’s very important that you use communication in a relationship to make that relationship work! Prayer is communication with the Father in Heaven. Do you use prayer? Or, are you a mute Christian? Do you simply read the Bible and go to church without any communication on your part?
What’s your prayer ratio? Meaning, do you spend as much time praying and seeking God as He spends seeking you? Or, do you spend as much time praying and seeking God as you do watching TV? Do you spend more time praying or playing?
The Model Prayer
On the path to Jerusalem Jesus had the occasion to stop and teach His disciples how to pray. But, before He taught them how to pray, He taught them how not to pray, which we can also say is a preparation for prayer. A kind of getting our heart right before we actually start praying.
(Matthew 6:5~8) "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
-Preparation for Prayer
=with Humility
Just why are you going to pray, anyway? Are you going to pray for God to heal someone so you won’t have to do their work? (that’s not humility) Are you going to God to ask Him to get you out of a traffic ticket that you deserve? (that’s not humility)
Humility implies surrender, modesty, meekness, self-effacing, gentleness, and submissiveness, without which there is no prayer!
=with Guarded speech
Jesus advises us to go into a private room, close the door and pray. Obviously this is continuing to deal with humility, but there is another meaning. We need to guard our speech as well. Why? Well, prayer invokes an outpouring of the Spirit through your spirit. And, as you are in the Spirit, praying, you may say or ask for something that you really want to take place that no one else needs to know about. You may be having family trouble, trouble with your spouse or your children. No one else but your Father in heaven needs to hear your personal prayers to the Father! And, it’s guaranteed that He won’t tell anyone about your shortcomings or troubles, unless He knows you need help.
=with Focus
Jesus sternly admonishes us to NOT pray like the pagans, who apparently thought it a necessity to have long repetitious prayers. Additionally, Jesus tells us to not keep on babbling, not to mince words. Flowery language and big words don’t impress God. Tell Him what you like and don’t like. Tell Him how you feel, tell Him what you need. And, don’t do it with vain repetition and babbling on and on about the same things.
He outlined these instructions very quickly and concisely to get us into the mindset before we pray, or, that is, to prepare ourselves before we go to the Father. The Bible tells us that we are to go to the Father prepared, determined and with belief.
(James 1:6) But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
How to pray
After instructing the disciples on how NOT to pray, Jesus then begins to tell then how to ‘fashion’ each one of their prayers that they submit to the Father.
Matthew 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray: "’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 today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ 14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus is telling us that our prayers must be REAL.
R – recognize
Recognition of WHO God is, is the heartbeat of prayer. Proper reverent recognition of God as the Father and Creator induces an appropriate attitude of prayer acceptable to God. The word hallowed means sacred, holy, sanctified, blessed, consecrated, and it implies that we give God the respect that He deserves and commands. It also adjusts our attitude, and, puts us in a proper mind-set, position or stance of prayer. Understanding WHO God is makes us bow low with our face to the ground. When Isaiah had a personal encounter with an angel of the Lord or a Theophony (God appearing in human form) it humbled him!
(Isaiah 6:5) "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Recognizing WHO God is puts us on our knees, with our heads down and hearts open to the Spirit.
Listen to this excellent parable that Jesus tells us about prayer:
(Luke 18:10~14) "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
E – entreat
When we recognize WHO God is, it fashions our prayer mind-set, which directs our requests that we lay before God. When we plead or ENTREAT God. Jesus tells us:
(Matthew 21:21~22) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ’Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Recognition is essential to entreating God. If you don’t recognize WHO He is, how can we have certainty of prayer? We will be reserved in our prayers, we’ll hesitate, and we’ll come with disbelief and skepticism, and we’ll not receive whatever we ask!
A – admission + A – attitude + A – asking = Success (the AAA threat!)
A’dmission of sins brings an attitude of proper worship and praise which will direct our ‘A’sking.. Admission of our sins is an inevitable product of recognizing WHO God is, in our prayers. Second Chronicles 7:14-15 tells us not only how we are to approach God, but the glorious results that come of that wonderful encounter.
(2 Chronicles 7:14~15) if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
L - love
When we come before God, we must come in the Spirit of God, letting the Spirit produce within our spirits an attitude of love. For, without love, how can you truthfully and honestly forgive anyone as it asks us to in Matthew 6:14-15?
Recognizing, Entreating, Admitting, and loving, makes our prayers real prayers that will not bounce off the ceiling back into the room.
The Lord’s Prayer is a model of prayer that we should not only memorize, but learn to follow in every prayer that we offer up. Can you say this along with the psalmist in 141:2?
(Psalms 141:2) May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
The Garden Prayer
The model prayer gives us an idea of the heart condition of Jesus when He went out to pray. Several times the Bible simply tells us that He went up to the mountain to pray. By knowing what He believed and said about prayer, we know what and how He prayed during those times. But, there is one place, in John 17, where Jesus’ prayer is recorded. There, we find a prayer
For Him
For Them
For Us.
For HIM
John 17:1-5
17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Prayer is normally dictated or influenced by situations, circumstances, realizations, and love.
This powerful prayer paragraph begins with “After Jesus said this…” What had Jesus said that would prompt a prayer such as this?
Jesus had been speaking about His betrayal, and what was going to happen to Him. He had also discussed the Holy Spirit and the end times. This was followed with Jesus’ disciples declaring, without hesitation, that He had come from God. And, this led Jesus to prayer.
Situations, circumstances, realizations, and love lead us to prayer. Have you been led to prayer? Pray, as Jesus did.
He began His prayer by praying for Himself. Praying for oneself is not selfish. If you’re in a non-believing house, you may indeed be the only one praying for yourself! Pray for yourself and for your needs, as Jesus did.
As you pray for yourself, give glory to God for what He has done for you in your life. You’ve come a long way, and it’s all due to Him! Lift yourself up to Him in prayer.
Here’s some questions that might prompt you to pray for yourself more often:
-Do you know anyone with children and needs God’s wisdom in bringing them up.
-Do you know anyone who is working for an unsaved employer?
-Do you know anyone who is sick?
-Do you know anyone who is teaching?
Looking at these questions, is one of your prayers for your fellow Christians that they are praying for themselves? That they are praying for themselves in order to receive the wisdom to fulfill each one of those positions with success? If not, you should be, and, if you should be, shouldn’t you be praying for yourself, too?
After Jesus finished praying for Himself and that God would glorify Himself through Jesus, He next prayed For Them.
For Them
Who is them? Look at John 17:6-10,
John 17:6-10
6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
Though Jesus is on His way to the cross, He still stops and takes time to pray for those that are in His care. Take note, though, this prayer is only for those disciples that were next to Jesus at this time. Those that He had personally chosen to study under His care.
If we have the opportunity to lead people, we should pray for those that we have authority over. We should realize, as Jesus says, that they are not ours, but God’s and God is glorified through us leading them in His name.
Take care, though. For you do not have absolute power over them. Only God has the absolute power. For absolute power corrupts absolutely. We are not called on to walk on the backs of those we’ve be given charge over to ensure our own success. No, we are only called on to complete God’s work through them, not over them.
As we continue through the 17th chapter of John, we see Jesus extending the boundary of His prayer For Us:
For Us
John 17:11-26
11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
This portion of Jesus’ prayer includes you. Look at verse 20 includes you. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
Again, we must remember that the cross is almost in sight. Jesus has that heavy burden hanging over His head, yet He still has time and the presence of mind to pray for Himself, His disciples, and Us!
Not only should these verses be a constant reminder for our need to pray, but, the situations, circumstances, realizations, and love during this time should also encourage us to pray. There is always a need to pray. THERE IS ALWAYS A NEED TO PRAY. Jesus’ life on this earth was life of prayer, and should be the only encouragement that we need to pray.
But, if we go back to Matthew, chapter 7, verses 7 through 11, we’ll find an intense encouragement voiced by Jesus to pray.
Encouraged to Pray
Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
In these Scripture verses, Jesus uses three different ways to express prayer:
Asking – Symbolizes the basic need to ask of God, to communicate with God. You have to ask to receive. Jesus is encouraging communication with the Father in Heaven.
Seeking – Symbolizes searching or looking around or actively listening for the answer. Look for answers in the Word of God during your Bible reading times.. You have to look sometimes to find the answer to the question you have. Jesus is encouraging active not passive communication with God.
Knocking – Symbolizes persistence and frequency. Constantly knocking on the door will get your stubborn relatives and friends saved! Jesus is encouraging active and frequent communication with God!
After this, Jesus utilizes an illustration of a father giving his son what he wants when he asks for it. He talks about frustrating or annorying our children by giving them a stone instead of food. The Bible is very explicit about us not exasperating or frustrating our children.
(Ephesians 6:4) Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Why bring this up? Because God follows the same rule. He follows the same rules and laws that He asks His children to follow. And, when you ask for something that He knows you need, or, it’s in keeping within His will and way for your life, you will receive it.
Summary:
Jesus was compelled to pray, Why? Because He knew that prayer will tell this mountain to go and jump in the ocean.
Jesus was compelled to pray, Why? Because He knew He was on the way to Jerusalem..
Jesus was compelled to pray, Why? Because He wanted to teach us the proper way to pray and He did that through
The Model Prayer
The Garden Prayer
Encouraged to Pray
