October 1, 2023 - Pattern of Prayer
Notes
Transcript
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Are You Tired of Praying?
A cartoon pictured a little boy kneeling in prayer. Obviously disgruntled with God, he was saying, “Aunt Harriet hasn’t gotten married, Uncle Hubert hasn’t any work, and Daddy’s hair is still falling out.… I’m getting tired of praying for this family without getting any results.”
I’ve heard many stories over the years about different PRAYER REQUESTS in our preschool class...
Some very serious...
MANY - quite comical...
But nonetheless - we hopefully know the privilege we have - in HAVING God’s ear - in prayer.
Today - we’re going to hear Solomon’s prayer - to God - after completing the Temple...
And I think what we can pull from this prayer - is a - PATTERN - that I think can be helpful...
when it comes to PRAYER and our Spiritual fitness...
Now there’s a LOT of verses that we could PLOW through - but I think it will be more helpful...
to look at the verses AS WE GO… and pull verses from different places inside this chapter - that Correspond to each other!
ok - TO START - let’s get the background...
3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
4 And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.
5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.
7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.
So the Ark is brought INTO the Temple - and put in its place...
AND THEN we come to Solomon’s prayer to the Lord...
v12 - first half of v15
12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
13 I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
14 Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood.
15 And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father, saying,
So what I want us to see here - in this prayer - is how Solomon begins the prayer...
SLIDE: Prayer: Prioritize Praise
Prayer
Prayer
When I say - Prioritize praise - I mean -
When it comes to prayer - FIRST THING - Praise Him!!
Praise Him for who He is…!
At this point - You’re simply DECLARING WHO God is!!!
you’re focusing in on the WHO… of God.
And if we just jump down to v22 and (part of) 23 - we see this same thing from Solomon...
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,
23 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
See it?
What does he say?
O Lord, God of Israel, there is NO GOD like you…in heaven above or on earth beneath....
Again - HERE we see Solomon BEGIN with - PRAISE!
Exaltation!
“There is no God like You”
NOW - is this just an isolated THING in Scripture?
Praising God in the beginning of our prayers?
Well - let’s do this - let’s see what Jesus had to say about it...
IF ONLY Jesus had given us an EXAMPLE PRAYER....
OH WAIT - He did!
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
How does Jesus START this prayer?
With PRAISE!
He starts with WHO God is!
I think what this DOES is it gets our hearts into the RIGHT POSTURE...
Before we come to God...
I think the last thing we’d wanna do is to come - STRUTTING into the throne room of PRAYER...
Well - we’re MORE LIKELY to do that - I THINK - if we DON’T FIRST....
Acknowledge WHO we are dealing with!!
And this ACKNOWLEDGMENT is found all throughout scripture...
King Hezekiah was the 13th successor of David to rule Judah. He was a remarkable king that kept great faith in God despite being ill during his reign. Even when a group of kings was plotting to battle with Hezekiah and the Israelites, he prayed for courage and deliverance.
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
Hear it?
He begins with WHO GOD IS...
He acknowledges the GODHOOD of God...
Hannah was a faith-filled woman but faced the problem of barrenness, which was once considered shameful. Hannah prayed to the Lord in the temple of Shiloh for a son and vowed that she will dedicate her child to Him. The Lord granted her prayer and gave her a son whom she called Samuel. This prayer of adoration was made by Hannah in gratitude.
1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Again - a prayer that begins with - WHO God is!
We may know Daniel as the person who found favor in God’s eyes and was protected after being thrown into the lion’s den. But, his powerful prayers in the bible are also commendable and one that we should all practice as well...
PART of v4
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
Even this SHORT - general description of God can properly ORIENT our hearts...
And GIVE OUR hearts - the right posture - before we come before the throne of God in prayer....
And again - remember - Jesus provided us with this example of prayer...
He began by Acknowledging who God is...
But WHY DO you think that this is important?
Why might this be of benefit to us…?
Remember the 2 prayers of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector?
When we listen to those prayers - we find that Jesus tells us what the main PROBLEM was between each man...
The Pharisee spent his prayer - with a CERTAIN Posture of heart...
While the Tax Collector spent his prayer with a DIFFERENT heart posture...
What was it?
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
What was the DIFFERENCE between these 2 men?
Humility!
See how IMPORTANT humility is - when it comes to our prayers?
A humble heart - will FIRST - submit to the LORDSHIP of God...
AND THAT - will keep us in a position of - NEED as opposed to GREED!
[YOU] are God…there is NONE like You...
I’m NOT EVEN worthy to come to You…but I ask as Your servant!!
And so - we should seek to … not merely SOUND humble...
But BE humble -
UNDERSTAND who you’re talking to...
The same God who created your brain...
the universe
the molecule
the atom
is the One we go to when we PRAY...
He’s in - - COMPLETE control of ALL things.
let that - humble us.
But what else do we see from Solomon in this prayer of dedication?
Back to our text...
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven,
23 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
There it is - Solomon - Acknowledges who God is...
Then he says -
Keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
What’s Solomon do here?
He goes from PRAISING God…speaking to WHO God is...
to now...
SLIDE: Prayer: Proclaim God’s Faithfulness
Prayer
Prayer
Back to our text...
23 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
KEEPING Covenant...
Think through what that means...
By - Keeping Covenant -
That means that God is - FAITHFUL!!
He’s KEEPING Covenant and showing LOVE to those who walk BEFORE God with - -
…all their heart!
Solomon is now acknowledging that God KEEPS His PROMISES!!
He’s KEEPING His covenant with His people!!
And so Solomon here - is proclaiming God’s Faithfulness!!
There’s a reason for this - and we’ll get to it...
BUT THIS is what he’s doing…1
Remember how DAVID handled the PAST Faithfulness of God??
Remember when we walked through the HOW of God’s way...
How - Sometimes (oftentimes) - God takes us on the PATH less traveled....
The one that can lead to us - SCRATCHING our heads?
And we feel the WEIGHT of all of it…?!
We must REMEMBER how God has worked for us in the past…!
We should REMEMBER God’s PAST Faithfulness!!
And we saw a clear example of this in DAVID!
Remember when David was about to go FIGHT Goliath?
What did David say…? What did DAVID DO? and believe?
37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
Do you see what David did here?
He REMEMBERED the past Faithfulness of God!!
His MIND went back to when GOD delivered him from the bear...delivered him from the lion!
And in REMEMBERING that - He drew STRENGTH from God’s PAST faithfulness toward him!
1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Do you HEAR it?
God’s PAST faithfulness can STRENGTHEN me today!
And so SOLOMON incorporates this = INTO his prayer...
He proclaims God’s faithfulness!
NOW - Let’s go back to Jesus’ example prayer for us to see what we see:
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
V10 here - what is Jesus saying?
What’s He proclaiming?
He’s proclaiming the Faithfulness of God!!
Your Kingdom come - YES - AND Your will be done!!
This WILL happen - WHY?
Because God - You are faithful!!
And if we think about it - the Faithfulness of God is DIRECTLY connected to His absolute sovereignty!
See God’s faithfulness here - is NOT ONLY speaking to His character....
WHERE- regardless of what’s happening in the world - God remains loving…or caring...
But THIS Faithfulness here - is speaking ALSO to EVENTS in history!
Solomon’s reign ITSELF - an event in history....
…ATTRIBUTED to the SOVEREIGNTY of God - in His declaring that this would happen...
BUT THEN ALSO - His faithfulness in MAKING IT ACTUALLY happen....in history!
How awesome is it - that the One who brings ALL THINGS to be - TELLS us what WILL be...
And so Solomon SPEAKS to this - and proclaims the Faithfulness of God
That not only is there NO ONE like our God - but that He’s TRUSTWORTHY...
He can be trusted!
And it’s THIS TRUST - that leads to the next portion of Solomon’s prayer!
Let’s go back to it...
23 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart;
24 you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
25 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
Where does Solomon go - after proclaiming God’s Faithfulness??
This is what we see...
= after Praise - and then proclaiming God’s Faithfulness
SLIDE: Prayer: Plead God’s Faithfulness
Prayer
Prayer
Let me know what you think about this statement...
SLIDE:
Most of our prayers are reactive as opposed to proactive
I think this is true...
What I mean by - PLEADING for God’s faithfulness - is what we see in the text...
24 you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day.
25 Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’
26 Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.
So the pattern we see here from Solomon is -
PRAISE God…for WHO He is...
PROCLAIM His faithfulness...
Acknowledge His PROMISE keeping in your life!
THEN...
PLEAD for His faithfulness!
That TODAY…TOMORROW…and the days to come...
HE would CONTINUE keeping His promises!
Solomon says - You’ve DONE THIS in the past...
You’ve BROUGHT US here!!
NOW - therefore - - KEEP CONFIRMING Your WORD!!
Solomon is asking God to KEEP His word regarding the throne of Israel...
And then Solomon goes through various scenarios - asking for God to - KEEP His promise IN SPITE of those scenarios...
Let’s look at a couple…but before we get there - Solomon sets the stage...
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
28 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day,
29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.
30 And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
he’s saying - Hear the prayers of Your people…and respond in LOVE...
31 “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath and comes and swears his oath before your altar in this house,
32 then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
33 “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,
34 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.
And here is where Solomon is being OVERTLY PROACTIVE in his prayer...
He says - If THIS happens…If the people SIN in THIS PARTICULAR way...
AND repentance is shown...
FORGIVE!
AND bring them back to the LAND that You - - - PROMISED!!
Hear it?
Solomon’s saying - God You’ve PROMISED Your people this land...
Please KEEP Your promise...
EVEN after they FAIL You…and SIN!!
He keeps going...
35 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,
36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.
And then to close this section Solomon says...
37 “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,
38 whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house,
39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),
40 that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
As you can see - Solomon just keeps hammering away...
PLEA after PLEA...
PROACTIVELY - - for the people of Israel!
NOW - Again - let’s go back to our EXAMPLE Prayer from Christ…to see what we see...
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
Isn’t this awesome...
We see the SAME thing HERE - that we find in Solomon’s prayer...
It starts with PRAISE....for WHO God is...
THEN - a proclamation of God’s Faithfulness...
THEN - NOW we see - a PLEADING for God’s Faithfulness!
“Give us this day our daily bread”
You PROMISED to NEVER forsake me....
NOW - I plead - give me - THIS DAY - my daily bread!
Question:
Would it make sense to pray THIS (Give us this day our daily bread) when you lay your head on your pillow to go to bed?
Would it make sense for me to lay down - put my head on the pillow - READY to fall asleep - and PRAY...
Give me THIS day - my daily bread…?
NO - it wouldn’t make sense!
Why would I ask for Bread THIS DAY - at the last moment of the day?
When WOULD it make sense to pray this prayer?
FIRST thing in the morning!
RIGHT?
And that goes RIGHT BACK to us being - PROACTIVE…!
We should STRIVE to get out AHEAD of the day...
How…?
By STARTING OUT our day - with a proactive PLEADING for God’s Faithfulness - FOR THAT DAY!!
I know that some of you - are really good at doing this...
You get out in front of the day - and you proactively pray for God’s faithfulness over that day...
That EVEN when we fail…and fall.... that God would be FAITHFUL to His promises…about us!
What promises?
He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
He will be with us forever (Hebrews 13:5)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
He will give us an eternal inheritance in heaven (1 Peter 1:3-5).
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
He will give us wisdom when we ask (James 1:5).
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
He will forgive us when we confess our sins (1 John 1:9).
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Each promise - a Promise from God to us...
He is Faithful and can be TRUSTED...
Therefore - we PLEAD these promises over ourselves…even today.
SUMMARY:
PRAYER
Praise
Proclaim God’s Faithfulness
Plead God’s Faithfulness
Let’s pray (SEAN)
Lord’s Table
This brings us to the Lord’s Table…a time for each of us to reflect on our lives, to examine ourselves spiritually, and to remember the cost of our faith. We were bought with a price, and these elements remind us of this.
In light of today - examine your prayer life...
Are we only praying - REACTIVELY to life as it comes...
if so - I THINK that maybe that says something about our faith.
if I’m ONLY praying (asking for help) when I feel I need it…and NOT proactively praying over my life...
It COULD be that my prayer life is more - ME-CENTERED than Christ centered!
But as we get into this - an important question we have to ask ourselves is -
Have you experienced the Saving Power of Christ at the cross? I ask because IF you haven't...you should not partake.
The Bible says not to take this lightly. Scripture says – “ whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Take time now and examine yourself before the Lord.
22 While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” 23 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
“do this…in remembrance of me.”
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen