Teach Me to Pray 4

We need to pray

Matthew 26:36 NASB95

36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

Jesus tells his disciples that he needed to pray

And if Jesus needed to pray, I need to pray

if the one who fed the 5000 needed to pray, I need to pray

if the one who waked on water . . .

if the one who calmed the raging sea with but a word . . .

if the one who raised Lazarus from the dead . . .

prayer is an essential part of your Christian journey!

A Christian without a prayer is like a computer without the internet, you will be severely limited

prayer is not something you ought to do, it is something you must do

Matthew 26:37–38 NASB95

37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

He took his inner circle (Peter, James, and John) on a little further with him into the garden, and was fully transparent with them. Jesus allowed them to see how distressed he truly was.

he basically told them “The stress of this moment feels like it will kill me; so please stay here and keep watch with me”

in this hour of my distress, I need you three to have my back . . . soon soldiers will be coming to arrest me, so if you three could keep guard, be on the alert, be on watch, be in prayer with me

and this is the situation, and state of mind that Jesus is in, as he enters into prayer . . .

Matthew 26:39 NASB95

39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

So Jesus moves a litter further off from his three “guards” and prays.

“fell on his face means” that Jesus either lies prostrates, or Jesus gets on both knees and bows all the way down to the ground

He is in full begging mode

and he prays, My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me

“The cup” represents calling, purpose, duty, orders, your path and when you drink from the cup, you fulfill your calling, purpose, duty, orders, walking down that path

Commercial: And God has a cup for every Christian, and everything that God has poured in your cup is not fresh squeezed lemonade, or sweet tea, or hot cocoa on a cold day . . . there are some bitter things in your cup . . . and God bids you to drink from it . . . that’s part of the Christian walk

what was in the cup the Heavenly Father had prepared for Jesus?

being whipped, struck, spit on, beat, mocked, thorns sticking in his head, crucified with nails on a tree, and taking on the sins of every human being ever

and you can see why Jesus he does not want to drink from this cup, and he comes out and plainly says “if it is possible, let this cup pass from me”

and thus we learn not only that we should pray in difficult times, but that we should . . .

Be Transparent in prayer

Jesus says, “I don’t want to do it . . . will you change the plan? Use someone else?”

I know we’ve planned and set this up since the garden of Eden, and all the promises me made to Abraham, and Moses, and David, and the prophecies through various prophets

I know I went through being born in Bethlehem, hiding in Egypt, and being raised in Nazareth

I know John the Baptist gave his life for preparing the way for me

I have lived 33 years of perfectly doing your will

but now that this moment is here . . . I don’t want to go through this

Jesus is transparent - he shares exactly what is on his mind, let this cup pass from me

if you are scared, tell God you are scared

angry

intimidated

sad

depressed

confused

if you’re mad and you don’t know why

If you know what you’re supposed to do, but you don’t want to do it, tell God that you don’t want to do it

if you don’t want to forgive your enemy, tell God

If you don’t want to take the high road

if you don’t want to be generous in your giving

be transparent

Some of you are praying about a situation, and have yet to pray about the real issue, the heart of the matter, because you will not be transparent

you know how we do, “God I gotta have a new car!”

when actually, we are saying, “I am tired of being seen driving this old thing, it’s so embarrassing” . . . if that’s the real case, the heart of the matter, just pray that!

our prayers need to transparent - because transparency leads to clarity

and Jesus is transparent, so he says, I don’t want to do it

he doesn’t try to hide his feelings behind a list of excuses/reasons

he simply says, if it is possible, let this cup pass!

How does this transparency lead to clarity? . . . his grief/distress is not solely caused by thinking about the upcoming suffering . . . that’s just one component

The thing that caused Jesus to say, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death,” is the struggle between his flesh and his spirit

his flesh - wants to have its own way: no pain/suffering

his spirit - wants the Father to have his way: complete his purpose

and he has never struggled this much putting the spirit above the flesh

the devil tried to tempt him to do wrong three years ago, but that was nothing compared to this struggle

he quoted some quick scriptures and shrugged the devil off

this temptation is on a whole “nother” level, can’t just shrug this off

that’s why he says, I gotta go pray, and I want you all to pray with me! My soul has never been so conflicted!

Commercial: you should always watch out for the devil and his tricks, but you sho’ nuff better watch out for your own flesh and weaknesses. That’s where the real battle is!

Jesus has never had such a hard time being obedient, he is on the verge!

Why do you say that? Because of what he says when he finds Peter, James, and John sleeping when they should be watching

Matthew 26:40 NASB95

40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?

first, Jesus says, “ya’ll sleep? I only prayed an hour!”

that’s a long time for a short prayer . . . that’s and indication of a struggle

some repeating must have been going on

Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me . . .

yet not as I will, but as you will . . . .

there is a struggle going on!

and then he says this

Matthew 26:41 NASB95

41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus warns them, you better watch (be alert), you better pray so that you won’t give into temptation, because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak

his warning to them springs from a testimony of what he is going through right then, his spirit is willing, but his flesh is weak

he says, “I know what I am talking about! If I am struggling between the spirit and flesh, you sho better be on watch and be in prayer!”

so that’s why you see him following his own advice in the next verse

Matthew 26:42 NASB95

42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.”

the same basic prayer, because the struggle is real

and he prays a long time again, long enough for when he goes back to peter, james, and john . . . they are asleep again

then he goes and prays again, the same prayer!

the struggle is real!

We have learned:

We need to pray

Be transparent in prayer (lead to clarity)

and now we see that we should pray about the struggle

we’ve been seeking what to pray for, pray what’s on God list

here is a big one . . . pray about your struggle

There is at least one struggle between your flesh and your spirit, and you need to pray about it

spirit - I want to obey the Lord

flesh - I want to do my own thing

spirit - i have faith in God

flesh - I don’t trust God like that

spirit - I want to please the Lord

flesh - we’ve got to look out for us

spirit - I want to forgive

flesh - I don’t let people run over me

spirit - I want to serve and be used by God

flesh - we don’t have enough time as it is

spirit - I want to press on

flesh - I want to give up

spirit - I will follow God anywhere

flesh - this cup needs to pass from pass from me

what struggle is grieving your soul?

YOu need to pray about it!!!

so pray

be transparent in prayer . . . (that will clarify the struggle)

pray about the struggle

but in that prayer . . . . keep praying until your flesh submits

Be submissive in prayer

each time Jesus follows up transparency with submission, “yet not as I will, but as you will”

we’ve said it throughout this series, prayer is about what is on God’s list

the end goal of prayer is to get you to do the Father’s will . . . get the flesh to submit to the spirit . . . . . submitting to God is the big picture purpose of prayer

that takes some re-arranging of our thought process

our whole life, prayer has been about us getting getting God to say yes

but in the prayer of Jesus, we see that prayer is about God getting US to say yes

We’ve had some good teaching throughout the years about prayer

“whatever you need, ask the Lord”

turn it over to the Lord, and he’ll work it out

Take your burdens to the Lord, and leave them there

that’s good teaching, solid instruction about prayer

but this is not the ultimate goal of prayer

The ultimate goal of prayer is to submit to our Heavenly Father’s will

in the example about the old car

pray

be transparent - i don’t want be seen driving that thing

pray about that struggle - this is really about my pride, help me not be so concerned about temporary things

but be submissive in prayer - I am tired of driving this old thing, but if you want me to drive this old thing, i’ll drive it

keep watch and keep praying until your flesh submits

and God will give you a new one, or the humility to drive the old one

cause at that point, then however God blesses, you will have peace

one of our favorite scriptures . . . .

Philippians 4:6–7 NASB95

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

pray about everything, let your request be made known

but does it promise to give you what you asked for?

no, it promises peace . . . to guard your hearts and minds . . .

after Jesus prayed three times, he found peace . . . if you look at his words after this, that is a person with peace!

not answering questions that could have set him free

telling people don’t pray for me, but pray for yourselves (with peter, he said pray for me!)

taking time to save thief on the cross

taking time to make sure mom would be ok

for the most effective prayer, it is so important that we get the mindset of not just focusing on important things, but the ultimate goal of submitting to the Father

bring up the important but focus on the father’s will

this should be your overall vision, mission, goal for your prayers!

let me show you how important overall goals are

In general (not the last time you were there) Which has the best service: McDonald’s, Chick-fil-a, or Popeye’s Chicken . . . i think it is

I took the liberty of looking up the vision/mission statements of all three companies on the Web

At Popeyes®, our Leadership Team is on a mission to increase franchisee success in every facet of the business. Profitability and service excellence are achieved with a focus on five strategic pillars that guide every business decision.

McDonald’s - Our mission is to make delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone.

Chick-Fil-A - "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

that overall attitude and stated purpose filters down and affects everything. And people notice a difference in Chick-fil-a compared to other fast-food-chains

it changes the way the workers treat you, talk to you . . . and Chick fil a still making money . . . still taking care of secondary purposes

When change your ultimate goal for prayer - it will filter down and change a lot about your prayer life . . . and still take care of secondary purposes, they will make that money!

even when they got boycotted, they made that money

so pray

be transparent in prayer . . . (that will clarify the struggle)

pray about the struggle

but in that prayer . . . . Be submissive

you’re going to find some peace! answered prayers! power!

Commercial: some of us just don’t put enough time in prayer, point blank, period

we invest so little in spiritual things, but want big returns

prayer is probably at the bottom of most Christians list when it comes to time put in

TV, netflix, social media, texting, phone calls, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping . . . prayer is probably way down on the list

first step of submission is to give your life to Christ

flesh doesn’t want to though