When You Pray...

Bottom line

When you pray, the goal is to connect with God

Opening Line

Anyone make any New Year’s resolutions? Take a few minutes to share them at you table, or why you don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Everyone online, share in the comments.

Wait a couple minutes for discussion

Introduction

Now I want to share a theoretical New Year’s resolution. In my hand is my driver. Let’s say someone in the congregation or online wanted to improve their golf game. In this theoretical scenario, let’s say you had the opportunity to receive training to help you achieve your goals. Just as a side note, if you want to succeed at a goal, you need to find someone who will help you achieve the goal. Even if their involvement is just to nag or encourage you, the best goals are achieved together, not alone.

Here are your two options to help you achieve your best golf game. You can either have me coach you, or Tiger Woods. If you don’t know who Tiger Woods is, he is the greatest professional golfer of all time.

If you go with me, you and I will probably be on that journey for quite a while. I’m still figuring it out, so the result will be me teaching you what I’m learning. There will probably be lots of contradicting myself, lots of frustration, and any improvement probably won’t be long lasting.

If you go with Tiger, you will probably see instant improvement and it will last. His tips and exercises will be better because he understands golf better then I do. He has made millions playing the game, he better understand it better then I do.

Main Point

In that scenario, the answer is pretty clear. If money and time were no issue, than any person who understands the game of golf is going to pick Tiger Woods every time. In fact, anyone who chose me would find me encouraging them to reconsider their choice.

Yet many people are making that decision in other areas of their life. The next generation is learning what dating looks like from their peers on social media, instead of coming to their parents or people who have been married for a long time. They are making life decision based off of influencers on YouTube instead of actual professionals who have done something of significance with their life.

You even do it with matters of faith. If a passage of scripture is confusing, instead of taking time to pray and allow the Holy Spirit, the one who inspired scripture, to show you the meaning, many will run to Google to find an answer. By way of introduction to this series, when you want to learn to pray, you will grab a book on prayer or download an app, instead of just opening the Bible and seeing what the God of the universe taught us. The gap in wisdom between Jesus and anyone else on earth is significantly greater then the gap in golf ability between Tiger and myself.

Why it matters

I want to start there because over the next number of weeks, we are going to be diving into the prayer that Jesus taught us. Matthew 6:9 literally starts with Jesus telling his followers, “Pray like this...”

So as we dive into these verses, I encourage you to take notes, highlight if that’s something you do, because this is not just anyone teaching you how to pray. This is God himself, giving you the tools you need to grow in your ability to pray. If you have declared Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and believe in your heart that his sacrifice wiped away your sins, then if he is teaching you how to pray, you best listen closely. These aren’t just another set of tips to add to your repertoire, these are the only tools you will need to grow in your prayer life.

Before we dive into the actual Lord’s Prayer, I want to dive into the context leading up to the prayer. In Matthew 6, Jesus is in the middle of what is called the Sermon on the Mount. Chapters 5-7 are all part of one sermon in which Jesus unpacks what a life of faith looks like. In the middle of it, we see his teaching on prayer.

Scripture

Matthew 6:5–6 NLT

“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

blank

Jesus starts his teaching on prayer by saying, “When you pray...” There is an expectation by our Lord and Savior that you are going to pray. It is not this optional thing that you get around to when it works. As a believer, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you will pray.

But when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. So the implication is that if you do what Jesus says next you are a hypocrite. What do hypocrites? They pray publicly on street corners and in synagogues for people to see them. What Jesus is describing is a practice the Pharisees held to. Three times a day, the Pharisees would gather at the synagogue or temple to pray. But they wouldn’t wait until they arrived to start. They would find a street corner and begin praying out loud as they walked. People would see them and marvel at their righteousness.

What do followers of Jesus do? They lock themselves away and pray in private. Question. Is Jesus saying that you shouldn’t pray for your meals when you are in public? Is Jesus saying that you shouldn’t pray out loud in church? Because Jesus also said in Matthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16 NLT

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Jesus also said this in Matthew 10:32-33

Matthew 10:32–33 NLT

“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.

blank

Now I acknowledge that Matthew 5 and Matthew 10 passage are not specifically about prayer, but I think these passages highlight an important issue. All of these things are matters of the heart. The Pharisees loved to pray on street corners because of the attention and adoration they received. What is the reason you pray at a restaurant? Is it so you are seen being a good Christian, or are you thanking God for his generous provision of food? Are you not praying in public because you are ashamed of your faith and would rather not let it be seen? Who is you audience?

The truth is that these are all matters of relationship with God. If were ashamed to be seen in public with your spouse, your marriage is going to face a lot of challenges. In the same way, if you televised aspects of your relationship that were meant to be private, or if your marriage was all just for show or stature, you would also be in a world of trouble. The same applies to your relationship with God. When it comes to prayer, it is about connecting with your Heavenly Father. It is not something to be arrogant about, but it is also not something to be ashamed about.

Should you pray before you eat? Yes, because that food is God’s provision for you. Do you need to make a big show of it? No. Do it quietly, discreetly, but boldly because you are proud of your relationship with God. Your waitress will wait until you’re done to give you your food.

Your relationship with God should be such that you don’t care who sees you living as a Christian, because all you care about is the fact that God sees you and you want to please him. In the same way as a married person you don’t care how others see you, all you care about is how your spouse sees you.

Continuing on. Matthew 6:7-8

Matthew 6:7–8 NLT

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says this:

Ecclesiastes 5:1–2 NLT

As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.

blank

As I read that passage, I was reminded of two other stories in Scripture. The first is in 1 Kings 18 if you want to read it for yourself. Here is the short version. The prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a showdown. Each god would get a sacrifice, and the god who sends fire from heaven to burn up the sacrifice is the one true God. Elijah lets the prophets of Baal go first. They cry out all day long, going through their rituals and their chants, even cutting themselves, trying to get Baal to send fire. Nothing happens.

Then Elijah prays this:

1 Kings 18:36–37 NLT

At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

blank

And at that, fire reigns down and consumes the sacrifice, the rocks, and everything around it. Nothing fancy. Short heartfelt prayer to his God.

The second is like it.

Luke 18:9–14 NLT

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

blank

The tax collector is standing in the back corner, head done, and prays a simple prayer, and he is the one who walks away justified before God.

See prayer isn’t a competition to see who can use the biggest and fanciest words. You don’t shoot up a holy flare to heaven every time you say the name of Jesus or utter a hallelujah. God isn’t looking for any of that. What he is looking for is connection.

Again, you wouldn’t talk to your spouse or a friend with a bunch of rehearsed lines and poems. You wouldn’t say their name every breath over the course of the conversation. You would just talk to them, connect with them, and most importantly, you would listen.

Main To Do

So this is what I want you to do. I want you to set a time in your calendar to pray. Make it appointment, just like a coffee date or a meeting for work. Block off half an hour if you’re new to prayer, an hour if you’ve been praying for a while.

In that time, I want you to set up two chairs, one for you and one for Jesus. Then I want you to imagine Jesus is sitting in the chair across from you and have a conversation with him. What will happen is you will begin to notice some of those bad habits that have crept in. Maybe you ramble when you pray, or you brain dump. Maybe you have forgotten that prayer is a conversation and that you need to listen.

Why it matters

What happens is prayer begins to be less intimidating and something you want to keep doing throughout your day. You will notice God’s voice becoming more clear and readily available for you. Prayer stops feeling like a ritual and more like a relationship. You stop trying to inform God and start connecting with Him. As you learn to listen for God’s voice, you will also start to listen to others better. Instead of conversation simply being an opportunity to one up the other person, you start to really listen to what they’re saying and engaging with it. Not only will your relationship with God grow, your other relationships might start to grow as well.

Closing Line

Prayer isn’t supposed to be complicated, it supposed to be connecting. Take this week to connect with God, because next Jesus is going to teach us how to pray.

Discussion Questions

What stood out from the message?

How does your understanding of prayer as a conversation change your approach to connecting with God?

How can setting a specific time for prayer help you prioritize your relationship with God?

Why is listening to God an important part of your prayer life?

How can you make your prayer life feel less intimidating and more engaging?