Unhindered Prayer

February 24, 2008

“Unhindered Prayer”

Matthew 6:9-15

Intro: Talk about home

408 Gum ST.

Mobile Home on 10 Acres (white fence)

God intended that we were to live in His house

God wants to be our dwelling place

John 14:23

“Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

God wants to be the one in whom “we live and move and have our being. Acts 17:28

Jesus taught us to pray. The Lord’s Prayer while very familiar is not just a prayer but according to Max Lacado, a model for living.

I. Our Father who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy Kingdom come

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

A. “Abba”

1. An everyday word.

2. A homely family-word

3. It is like the word ‘daddy’

4. Jesus calls him “Abba” and here in Matthew He gives us permission to do the same.

B. God adopts us

1. God not only forgives us, he adopts us.

2. Romans 8:15-16

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit

3. Galatians 4:4-5

“But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

C. Why God adopts us

1. Ephesians 1:3-5

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—“

2. because he wanted to.

3. The adoption is final and forever

Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

D. First 3 petitions are God-centered

1. Hallowed be thy name

a. We worship His Holiness

2. Your kingdom come

a. Our most important prayer

3. Your will be done

a. Submission of our will and only His desire for us

4. Prayer begins with revealing God to us before we reveal our needs to God

5. The purpose of prayer is not to change God, but to change us.

II. Give us this day our daily bread

A. God wants us to discuss our daily needs with Him.

Psalm 37:3-4

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

1. The key is to “delight in the Lord.”

2. God wants us to depend on Him.

B. We can trust Him to ‘feed’ us

III. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

A. We can do nothing to cause God to forgive us except through Jesus Christ

II Corinthians 5:21

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

B. Matthew6:14-15

“ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

IV. Deliver us from the evil one

A. Uses the devil to do the work

1. Refine the faithful

a. Paul’s thorn in the flesh

b. Job

2. Awaken the sleeping

a. The consequences of sin

3. Teach the church

a. The purpose of testing is to provide a testimony for the church.

b. God knows our difficulties

c. He understands our diseases

d. Our conflicts are opportunities for Him to reveal Himself

e. I Corinthians 10:13

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”