We’re in the Gospel of Matthew and we’re talking about Prayer. We’ll be in Mat. 6:5-15, but especially, vss 5-6.
I wonder if you’ve heard about the big Fire at a chemical factory in Kansas? 10 Fire companies were called, but the fire was too intense to do more than spray the edges. The owner was watching his money go up in smoke and offered to donate 100,000 dollars to whichever fire company could put out this fire. There were no takers and he upped it to 150, then 250,000.
Then, from way off in the distance, a Fire Truck came barreling along. It was an all volunteer company from a small town and they didn’t stop, didn’t even slow down. They drove right into the heart of the fire and began frantically fighting the fire. They actually succeeded and put the fire out. The owner congratulated them and wrote out his check for the 250,000 dollars and asked what was the first thing they were going to do with the money. One of the men said, “First, we’re going to fix the brakes.
“On Fire” Prayer is a lot like that. Many people come to prayer or church and we keep a safe distance from God and when we’re done, we’re pretty much the same as when we started.
Some Christians, however, come barreling through, looking for the hottest part of the Presence of God! They don’t just want Church, They want God. Even then, they don’t just want God, they want the God of the Holy of Holies, the Lamb, the Lion, the Holy Fire!
You want God today? Hop on this Fire Company truck Jesus describes in Mat. 6. Don’t stop until you hear God, feel His presence and are changed by Him.
When you pray . . . PRAY!
I see three thoughts in this one word: P R A Y!
First, When you pray, PRAY! Don’t just talk about praying. Why do we so often procrastinate praying? Procrastination usually involves something fearful, painful or uncomfortable? But, when it comes to praying, the most likely reason we procrastinate is that we are uncertain or have little confidence in Who God Is!
Jesus said we can call God, “Father!” This is prayer in the Holy of Holies where we freely draw near the Throne of Grace.
I read about a Dad who took his son on a hike. They were going up a hill and stopped for a break. While his back was turned, the boy, about 4 years old, climbed up onto a boulder and, without waiting for Dad to turn around, yelled, “Dad, Catch Me!” Dad turned around just in time, and managed to catch him. He was a little upset and asked him why he did such a foolish thing. The boy said, “’Cause You’re My Dad, I knew You Would Catch Me.”
Well, we know he might have missed, we earthly fathers do not always do things right and sometimes we let our kids down. But not our Heavenly Father. He will catch us. Actually, He never lets us go; the Whole Earth is full of His glory, as the waters cover the sea. If you jump in the sea, the water is all around you. If you “jump” into the Presence of God, in the Glory of God, He is all around us and His Glory is full of His love.
So, when you pray, PRAY! Don’t just talk about it.
God is our Father; of course, He is much more than this, but that brings us to our second point.
Second, When you pray, Pray! Don’t talk to others. It’s amazing how much time we spend talking to others about our problems, instead of God. Thee was a Little girl who told her Mom she was going to say her prayers and go to bed. Mom was in the hall listening and said, “I can’t hear you.” The Little Girl said, “I’m not talking to you.”
God is Father, but He is also King and Lord, His Kingdom WILL come and His Will WILL be done.
He gets things done!
It’s the difference between a Professional and an Amateur. Once, way back around 1975, I tried to put in a hardwood floor in a small room. Being frugal, I didn’t buy or rent the equipment I should have and tried prying the boards close. I sweated and strained, and a couple of hours later had about 7 or 8 rows in. A friend dropped by. He was a professional and came up to the room where I was working. Somehow, just stepping on them, he pounded in a couple of dozen. Wow. He offered to finish, but I thought I could do that. I never quite mastered his technique, but I did finish, but mine didn’t look nearly as good as his.
There’s a difference between a Professional and an Amateur. God is the Professional in everything. Why waste your time talking to anyone else. He knows life, marriage, finances, fixing, repairing, child-raising, how to overcome depression, failure, sin-habits. He really knows.
So,when you pray, PRAY, don’t waste your time talking to the “amateurs’ when you can talk to the “Professional.”
Third, When you pray, PRAY! Cut loose, or be silent. Jesus, here in Matthew 6:6 is really talking about something called “Closet Prayer.”
To me, closet prayer is like PING PONG! Why. Good ping pong usually involves 2 “paddle” techniques: Zip & Dribble! Zip? You gotta be able to slam it, just back up an hit it about as hard as you can. And, Dribble? You also gotta learn how to surprise your opponent by a little dribble over the net. Just enough to die on the other side.
Well, for me, the “Closet,” means “Zip.” It’s when I can really cut loose, raise my voice, shout, jump, wave my arms, pound my fist, or whatever. Nobody’s watching, I can just PRAY!
The “Closet” also means “Dribble.” By that I mean silence, whispers, just listening to what the Lord may be saying, or just basking in His glory without a word.
I remember once I was invited by an Assemblies of God pastor to an all day Pastor’s Prayer Conference. He promised good fellowship and teaching and food. Being Presbyterian, I was really interested to see how they do things.
We got there, I was looking for the donuts and things, when the Leader called us together and told us the Lord told him, we’re supposed to spend the day FASTING AND PRAYING.
Having skipped breakfast, I was a little perturbed. And I was really surprised when about 40 men and women got down on their knees and began praying, shouting, clapping, and singing. When they prayed, they PRAYED. It was five hours of “On Fire Prayer.” The “Glory” broke through quite q few times and the Presence of the Lord was so real I felt like I could reach out and touch Him.
Zip and Dribble. When we pray, we should really PRAY!
ONE FINAL NOTE. Since God is our Father, we need to always, in all of our prayers put some “love” on it. If we put “zip” and “dribble,” we definitely should put love.
Remember how much Jesus loves us, how loyal He is, how undeserving all His blessings are? Put some of that into your prayers.
One of my favorite stories comes from the Great Depression. There was a man who had just lost his job. He came home and had spread his bills across the table and was just as helpless and hopeless as you can imagine. He had a little 3 year old daughter and she came in and could see that Dad was feeling badly.
She went in the other room took out an old cigar box, did some things, wrapped it up in scrunched up old newspaper and brought it in.
She said, “Daddy, I’ve got something that’s going to make you feel better. He opened it and found the box empty.
He was frustrated and now he was mad. “Honey, how could you bring me something like this. I am feeling bad and you just brought me and EMPTY BOX?!”
At this his daughter began to cry, she said, “But, Daddy, it’s not empty, I filled it with kisses.”
After a well-deserved apology, she was right, this did feel better.
God puts “kisses” and love in everything he does. We need to do likewise to Him.
When you pray, P R A Y!
