Series: Victory
Message 2: Teach Me How to Pray
Luke 11:1 / Matthew 6:5-15
There is nothing more secure with our salvation in Christ than knowing that we have a Heavenly Father who wants to hear from his children.
Last week, we learned that we have to get “me” out of the way to allow God to be God. Today, we’ll be talking about how we communicate with him.
Prayer is something that everyone does.
The Christian
The non-Christian
There are times in our lives when we all bow our heads and we pray.
Times of death
Times of sickness
Times of tragedy…
We may not have an active prayer life but there just always seems to be a moment when we try our best to get a word to the Lord.
This morning, we are going to look at four people in God’s word that had an active prayer life. They knew how to get prayers answered. They had victory in their lives because of the way that they prayed.
If I am going to pattern my life after someone, I want it to be someone who has been through the trenches and came out on top. Give me someone that knows what I am going through. Let them be my example.
In Luke’s gospel we see a request by one of the disciples to our first example.
Read Luke 11:1
Lord, teach us to pray.
We see you doing it often.
It must be important because you do it.
Some think that praying is just for the pastor or minister. And it’s good when you have someone you can call on in time of need…
But the disciples wanted to be able to pray themselves.
So Jesus, our first example gives us the structure of how our prayers should be.
1. Jesus
Listen to his response to this question from the disciples from Matthew’s point of view.
Read Matthew 6:5-13
Jesus gave some advice in praying before He gave us a sample prayer that is known as the Lord’s Prayer.
Christ says:
· Do not pray one way and live another (hypocrites)
· Do not pray to bee seen (don’t try to impress)
· Go into an inner room (just you and God)
· Do not say things just because you hear others saying them – (use your words from your heart)
Then Christ gave us an example: The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, Thy 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever, Amen.
Ball teams repeat it
Congress repeats it
Other organizations repeat it before entering a meeting…
But what is Jesus trying to teach us with this prayer?
He is showing us what to pray.
a. The first part of the prayer concerns the glory of God.
· We call him “Father” – a term that can only be used by His children that have their faith in Jesus Christ.
· We request that His name be “hallowed” or honored as holy.
Next, we requests God’s Kingdom come. This means that we acknowledge God as ruler of the world and obey His will.
Other requests relating to our own needs:
· Food for each day – recognizing our daily need
· Forgiveness – which includes not holding grudges
· Help in Temptation – keep us from it!
The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer attributes all power and glory to God forever. This part of the prayer should be evident in our lives each day as seek God’s will on earth as His disciples.
So Jesus gives us a great start in understanding how to pray by giving us structure.
But I want to go deeper into what it means to pray. Now that we have structure what else can we learn about praying?
2. Daniel – Daniel 6
Daniel teaches us not only how often we should pray but how prayer can help you in time of trouble.
You may say, “Well the Bible says to pray without ceasing”… So everywhere we go, in everything we do, we should have a prayer on our lips.
But there are times, when you have to go as Christ commanded: “go into an inner room and shut the door”
The bible tells us that Daniel knew that a document had been signed for there to be no prayers offered unless they were being offered to King Darius.
v. 10 – says that when Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he entered his house, went to the roof chamber, opened the windows toward Jerusalem.
Now before we go any further. You have to understand why Daniel could do this.
Was he trying to be a rebel?
Was he trying to cause trouble?
NO! v. 10 finishes out by telling us that when Daniel opened the window, he knelt down and prayed three times a day.
But it wasn’t this one-day that made an impact in Daniel’s life. It was the next few words that shows us what prayer can do.
The Bible says, “he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God…
AS HE HAD BEEN DOING PREVIOUSLY!
This wasn’t something that Daniel just started. He was just making a statement in regards to the document; Daniel had an active prayer life that had him in his “inner room” and praying out to God.
Now Daniel is faced when opposition. He is in a sticky situation that has placed him in a den of lions.
There is nothing more powerful than being able to call on God when you find yourself in trouble.
Once Daniel was placed in the den of the hungry lions, that was not the time to decide to start reciting the Lord’s Prayer… This called for drastic measures but for Daniel it was no sweat.
He already knew what it was like to have an active prayer life. He was just living out what he had been praying all those times before.
You can’t wait until you get into trouble to decide that you want God to hear all of your prayers. You can’t wait until then to start acting “holier than thou”.
Daniel teaches us that it is important to spend time with God everyday (if not three times a day) because you never know when your “den of lions” is right around the corner. Daniel was prepared! Are you?
3. Job
Job teaches us how to pray when we have lost everything.
Oh how easy it is to offer a prayer during our services when you have had a great week.
Got a bonus at work
Received a good IRS refund
Maybe got a promotion
During these times, we just beg for someone to call on us to pray.
But what about when you have lost everything?
· House burned – How will you pray?
· Lost the job – How will you pray?
· Son gets with the wrong crowd – How will you pray?
· Daughter arrested, facing prison – How will you pray?
· Lost a father – How will you pray?
It’s great to be able to pray when everything is going good but how well do you pray when things are not so good?
What do you say? How do you say it?
If you are going to experience true victory in your life, you have to learn how to pray not only when the times are good. You have to know how to call on God when the situations get tough. And when the pastor is not around!
Job can sympathize with you.
In one day – Job lost:
500 yoke of oxen
3,000 camels
7,000 sheep
500 female donkeys
Many servants
But he also lost all of his sons and daughters…
Talk about having a bad day!
In one day, Job has lost a lot! But I want you to notice his prayer that he offers up.
Job 1:20 –
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped”
Wait a minute:
Job has lost his kids, animals, and his servants… and we find him worshipping?
Job continued in his prayer of worship:
“Naked I came into this world – naked I shall return”
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away”
But notice this last statement:
“Blessed be the name of the Lord”
Job had every right by the world’s account to blame God. The bible says he didn’t.
He had every right to give up and just die – but he didn’t
He had every right to quit praying and say it’s not worth it…
But instead, Job immediately fell to the ground and began worshipping God.
What are you saying?
· When the employer tells you not to return – Worship God!
· When the doctor says it doesn’t look good – Worship God!
· When the bank says NO! – Worship God!
· When the kids run away from home – Worship God!
Why?
God is the one that gave you that job anyway. He can also give you another one. One that pays more and respects you more
God is the Master Physician. The doctors can only do what God will allow them to do. If it’s time to go – it’s time to go. God has a plan and you or your loved ones will not go before their time.
God gives the bank the money to lend to you. If He wants you to have it, you will get it. And it may not come from the bank. Allow God to do it the way He wants to do it.
God knows your kids. He even knows the number of hairs on their head. They cannot go anywhere in this world without His knowledge. Know that while you may not know where they are, God does and He can protect them from hard. He can make sure they are provided for.
Job realized that while it seemed that his world was falling apart around him, he didn’t need to worry.
Why? He wasn’t living for this world. He is living for God.
Victory comes in our lives when you make up in your minds that you are here to please God. What God wants you to have – you will have. What God does not want you to have, you don’t need it.
What a lesson that Job teaches us that when this world tells us to give up, we pray. Not a prayer of needs and wants, but a prayer of worship. Honoring God who is in control.
Letting Him know that:
· God, I am hurting but you are in control
· God, I don’t understand but I am glad I don’t have to
· God, you took that away from me, that must have been best for me
· God, you gave me this cancer, you must have a reason for it – I pray that you get honor from it.
Job tells us to pray a prayer of worship in spite of our situations.
· Jesus taught us the structure of our prayers
· Daniel taught us when to pray – before our den of lions appear
· Job taught us how to pray when we have lost everything…
What can we learn from…
4. David
I have shared the message recently concerning the sin of David and Bathsheba.
We discussed our need to:
· Admit our sin
· Quit our sin
· Forget our sin.
There are so many lessons that we can learn from David that I am sure this will not be the last time we discuss him.
After his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, she has a baby. The baby gets sick and ends up dying.
During this critical time, David teaches us how to pray when we are about to lost something close to us.
Not only during that time, but this type of praying comes in times of great difficulty in our lives.
2nd Samuel 12:16 –
The Bible says that David besought (earnest or urgent request) God for the child. It says he fasted, went in and lay on the ground all night long upon the earth.
David was attached to something that was sick.
Sick unto death. And he knew that God was the only answer to this situation.
Have you been there? How did you react?
What a lesson from David on prayer:
When those times comes in our lives, David tells us that those are the times when:
· Reciting a prayer will not work
· Calling the pastor is not enough
· It is serious and we know that something has to be done.
David tells us to pray with everything we’ve got in us.
The Lord’s Prayer is a great structure. It’s a great prayer to pray.
Daniel was right when he showed us that we needed to have an active prayer life before the tragedies came…
Job was on target when he said after losing everything; God is in control and deserves our praise…
But oh, the message that David is delivering this morning.
There will come times when just bowing our heads won’t get the job done.
We have to show God that we mean business.
· We may even find ourselves stretched across the floor with our heads buried into the ground
· Not just whispering a prayer but crying out to God for his mercy
· Spending more than just two or three minutes in prayer. We might be there for a while…
But in all of this we have to show God that I need you to come into this situation and take over.
· I am lost and I need to be saved…
· I have a loved on that is breathing their last breath...
· I have a child who has disappointed me…
How bad do you want victory in your life? God could be waiting to see how important it is to you.
Is it important enough to:
· Take the structure of the Lord’s Prayer and pray in the way that Jesus taught us…
· Take Daniel’s advice and not wait until we find ourselves in trouble before we start calling on God…
· Take Job’s advice and realize that what God wants us to have He will give us…We need to offer a prayer of Thanks and honor in knowing the He is in control…
Is it important enough to you to:
Take David’s advice on prayer and give it everything you’ve got within you.
To go home and lay over your bed or on your floor and mean business with God…
Not just saying words but crying out to God for help.
Victory has already been provided through Jesus Christ
It is there for the taking!
We must humble ourselves and realize that we are not God. He is the one that makes the decisions in our life.
We must then learn how to really pray. How to get the job done!!!!!
· I want victory in my life – How bad do you want it?
· I want God to hear my prayers – How bad?
· I want to be saved – How bad to you want it?
You can’t have victory in your life until you first accept Jesus Christ.
· You have a void in your life
· You are not happy
· You feel like giving up…
Just before you do, would you accept Christ?
Would you make Him Lord and Savior of your life?
Would you please give Him a chance to do in and through you what He wants to do?
