Title: Love Expressed in Prayer
How do you connect with God? That is the question for us today. Let’s watch this short vidoe clip.
(Clip)
Connecting with God is so important that Jesus gave us instructions in how to talk to. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6 verse 5.
Please read it with me.
Mat. 6:5
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.
How not to Pray.
Jesus warns us about two dangers in prayer.
First, Jesus warns us to be serious about prayer..
Standing in the synagogues and on the street corners.
Jesus is talking to his disciples and they were Jews. Every Jew was required to say two different prayers every day.
The first was the Shema, which consists of three short passages of scripture.
The second Prayer which every Jew must daily repeat was called the Shemonçh ’esreh, which means The Eighteen. It consisted of eighteen prayers, and was, and still is, an essential part of the synagogue service. In time the prayers became nineteen, but the old name remains. Most of these prayers are quite short, and nearly all of them are very lovely.
The problem Jesus has in mind is that certain Jews were praying to be seen of men. The Jewish system of prayer made flashiness very easy. The Jew prayed standing, with hands stretched out, palms upwards, and with head bowed. Prayer had to be said at 9 a.m., 12 midday, and 3 p.m. It had to be said wherever a man might be, and it was easy for a man to make sure that at these hours he was at a busy street corner, or in a crowded city square, so that all the world might see with what devotion he prayed. It was easy for a man to halt on the top step of the entrance to the synagogue, and there pray lengthily and demonstratively, so that all men might admire his exceptional piety. It was easy to put on an act of prayer which all the world might see.
Jesus saw this practice and comdemned it. Jesus knew that prayer which focused on self is always hypocritical. Why? Because, by definition, the focus of every prayer should be on God.
Jesus warns not only warns us to be serious in prayer.
Jesus warns us to be sensible.
Jesus cautions us against long, vain prayers.
Matthew 6:7
“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.”
There was amongst the Jews an undoubted tendency towards long prayers. Rabbi Levi said, “:Whoever is long in prayer is heard.” Another saying has it: “Whenever the righteous make their prayer long, their prayer is heard.”
There was—and still is—a kind of subconscious idea that if we batter long enough at God’s door, he will answer; that God can be talked, and even pestered, into seeing things our way.
Jesus warns us about trying to muscle God through long meaningless prayer into seeing things our way.
But then Jesus turns his attention to how we should connect with God.
How to Pray
Mat. 6:6
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.
As Jesus said this he probably was referring to a “bonus room” that the Jews sometimes built over the porch or gateway to their house called a Alliyah. The Alliyah was much more private than the rest of the house. This extra room had steps leading directly down to the street, and another flight of stairs connecting it with the central court of the home.
Because it was connected to both the house and street, Jesus may have been impling that before we can face the problems in the family, we need to spend time alone with God. Is the stress of parenting getting to you? Spend some time alone with God in your alliyah. Is the pressure at work overwhelming? Spend some time alone with God in your alliyah.
When we are alone with God, we can be real before God. He sees us with all our warts, why do we try to hind them behind flowerly words and carefully thought out phrases. God knows who you real are. God knows knows what you really need. Just come to him, as openly and honestly as possible. In The Message, Ugene Peterson puts it this way.
Matthew 6:6
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
When we get past the role playing we are ready for this model prayer Jesus taught His disciples.
A Model Prayer
Begins with Worship
Mat. 6:9
“This, then, is how you should pray:
”‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Did you see that prayer life begins in a relationship. We see recongize God as our Father. Our worship begins with a relationship with God.
This prayer is for God’s children. Not everyone is a child of God. Only those who have committed their lives to Christ and have become followers of Christ. You say, “Terry I am not sure I agree with that. I have always been taught all people everywhere are children of God.” So was I but then I read John 1:12 Listen to
John 1:12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Who has the right to become children of God.
Whose who first received Jesus
Second whose who believed in his name.
As Christians we are children of God.
First, God is our Father; he is not a mystical force out there some where who can not or will not feel our pain, who is removed, and cut off from our trails. God is our Father. Jesus tells us we are to address God the Father as Abba, which is a term used much as we would use Daddy. Just as our earthly parents are worried about us, so God is concerned what happens to us day by day. Our prayer life begins with a relationship.
But our relationship with our Father is tempered by reverence.
hallowed be your name
To hallow or revence His name is to worship him. Even though we can freely come to our Father in prayer, we need to remember God is not just another buddy. He is not our equal. God is the creator of heaven and earth. Yes God is our Father, but we should never lose the awe and reverence when we come before him. Remember the words of David
Psalm 111:9-10
He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name.
True worship holds in balance the familiar God as Father, and the all powerful and awe inspiring God as Redeemer and Creator. Both of these sides of God come to us in this first line of this prayer.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name
When we see God as both Father and Creator we are led to submission.
Prayer Leads to Submission
Mat. 6:10
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
For His kingdom to come means to experience the full reign of God now. We are commiting ourselves to do God’s will.
Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
For God’s will to be done on earth the Christian is really praying God do your will through me. In this sense Christ prayed, not my will, but thine be done. "
When we submit our wills to God’s, then are ready to bring our petitions before him.
Prayer Results in Petitions
Mat. 6:11
Give us today our daily bread.
Bread here is not only represents food but is symbolic of all of our physical needs. Martin Luther said, “everything necessary for the preservation of this life is bread, including food, a healthy body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, good government, and peace”
Is itn’t great to understand that the God who created the entire universe, who is the God of all space and time and eternity, who is infinitely holy and completely self-sufficient, should care about supplying our physical needs-and should be concerned that we receive enough food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to rest. God obligates Himself to supply our needs?
This is an affirmation that every good thing we have comes from the gracious hand of God
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
So The request for bread focuses on that which will sustain us for the coming day.
Prayer Ushers in Forgiveness
Mat. 6:12
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
BEFORE a man can honestly ask for forgiveness in this Prayer he must realize that he needs to pray it. That is to say, before a man can pray this petition he must have a sense of sin. Sin in not nowadays a popular word. Men and women rather resent being called, or treated as, hell-deserving sinners.
The trouble is that most people have a wrong conception of sin. They would readily agree that the robber, the wife beater, the murderer, the adulterer is a sinner.
But they are guilty of none of these sins; they live decent, ordinary, respectable lives, and have never even been in danger of appearing in court, or going to prison. There name has never appeared in the headlines of a local newpaper for a crime. They feel that sin has nothing to do with them.
But let’s look at what we are really saying in this prayer.
The literal meaning is: “Forgive us our sins in proportion as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” In verses 14 and 15 Jesus says in the plainest possible language that if we forgive others, God will forgive us; but if we refuse to forgive others, God will refuse to forgive us. It is, therefore, quite clear that, if we pray this petition with an unhealed violate, an unsettled squabble in our lives, we are asking God not to forgive us.
If we say, “I will never forgive so-and-so for what she has done to me,” if we say, “I will never forget what so-and-so for what he did to me,” and then go and pray this prayer, we are quite deliberately asking God not to forgive us. As someone has put it: “Forgiveness, like peace, is one and indivisible.” Human forgiveness and divine forgiveness are intertwined. Our forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness of us cannot be separated; they are interconnected. If we remembered what we are doing when we take pray this prayer, there would be times when we would not dare to pray it.
When Robert Louis Stevenson lived in the South Sea Islands he used always to conduct family worship in the mornings for his household. It always concluded with the Lord’s Prayer. This time without praying it he rose from his knees and left the room. His health was always shaky, and his wife followed him thinking that he was ill. “Is there anything wrong?” she said, “Only this,” said Stevenson, “I am not fit to pray the Lord’s Prayer today.” No one is fit to pray the Lord’s Prayer so long as the unforgiving spirit holds sway within his heart.” Only when you have made things right with others can you make things right with God.
Permits Deliverance
Mat. 6:13
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Notice only after we have worship God the Father, redeemer, and creator. And after we have submitted our will to his will. And finally we have forgiven others as we have sought forgiveness are we ready to ask God to deliever us.
The Bible is never in any doubt that there is a power of evil in this world. This petition of the Lord’s Prayer should be translated “Deliver us from the Evil One.” The Bible does not think of evil as an abstract principle or force, but as an active, personal power in opposition to God, this is Satan.
1 Peter 5:8
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Satan is real, he is powerful, and he seeks to tempt you.
The prayer to be delivered from the evil one is a recognition that we will not totally escape temptation, but we will ask God to deliver us when we are being tempted.
Conclusion
So there you have it. How to connect with God. Let’s review. First how not to pray. Don’t pray for show, and don’t pray long winded meaningless prayers. Instead pray simple straight forward prayers to your father in secert. Here is how to pray.
Prayer starts in worship, pilots us to submission, results in petitions, steers us to forgiveness, and opens the door for our delieverance.
