What do we Pray?

Matthew 6:5-13

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Introduction

 Last week we discussed what prayer is?

We borrowed from John Piper’s definition: “Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God.”

This week we want to answer the following question: How do we pray?

The reality of sermon’s on prayer for some

Preachers in their worst state can believe the sermon is designed to bring glory to themselves.

When it comes to prayer, we have heard multiple sermons, and the temptation is to try and reinvent the wheel.

Prayer is not something which needs reinventing, but rather reminding.

We need to be reminded of the importance and power of prayer.

P.R.A.Y.

This explanation is not original, but we do see this found in Scripture over and over again.

Whenever we gain ideas about God, we must make sure these ideas are rooted in Scripture.

Background

We are headed to Matthew 6.

Jesus is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.

This chapter is a “how to” on basic tenets of the Christian faith.

The part of the passage we’ll be discussing might feel familiar, but there is incredible truth to answering our question, “How do we pray?”

English Standard Version Chapter 6

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 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,

12  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Prayer Requires Praise

[Read Matthew 6:5-9]

Optional Illustration, “Avengers: Infinity War Meeting a King”

[Tip: You may want to arrange to play a clip of the scene in Avengers where this happens.]

Do we have any superhero fans in the room? We have to ask the obvious question for those fans, Marvel or DC? For all of you who made the right choice (Marvel), there was a movie that came out a few years ago named “Avengers: Infinity War.” Did anyone see that movie?

For those of you who have not seen the movie, there is one scene in particular that came to mind when I was reading this passage. The characters arrive in the country of Wakanda, and they get off the plane to meet the king. One of the characters, Bruce, aka the Hulk, has been off the planet for a while. He looks to a friend and asks what he is supposed to do when he meets the king? Should he bow, not look at him? The friend plays a prank here and tells him he is supposed to bow.

When they meet the king Bruce bows down, but the king tells him we don’t do that here. It’s a laughable moment, but it points out something about this passage. Bruce had a question we all should ask when meeting a king, “What do I do when I stand in his presence?”

Entering the King’s presence

This is a valid question, what to do in the presence of the King?

Have we found ourselves too comfortable in the King’s presence?

Have we forgotten whose presence we enter?

God deserves and is worthy of honor and praise, even when we enter into His presence.

Private and public prayer

If we find ourselves only praying in public, then we are gaining all of the rewards we are due.

Our prayer life should be private as well as public.

The Bible is not discouraging public prayer. It is discouraging solely public prayer.

We are called to be genuine when we pray and offer praise, not just genuine in either the private or public spheres.

A proper name for a proper stance

When we arrive at the first part of the actual prayer, we see that He is saying Hallowed be your name!

Webster’s Definition of hallowed, “greatly Revered or Respected”

Your prayers will bring praise to something; the question you have to ask yourself is what?

Have we spent time with God, or have we spent time talking about ourselves?

Our faith should not just focus on us.

When our faith focuses on us, we have gained our reward already.

Prayer Requires we Repent

[Read Matthew 6:12]

Optional Illustration: Dogs and Regret

How many dog lovers do we have in the room? I love dogs because they can be extremely loving and smart, but they also do some silly things too. I have seen dogs get into some mischievous circumstances before, and when they know they have done something wrong, there is one of two reactions.

The first reaction is distracting with cuteness. They will run from the incident or try and get you to play. They wag their tails fast, and maybe they try to lick you in the face. The biggest thing they’ll do is try and replace the bad with happiness.

On the other end of the spectrum is regret. When the dog realizes they've done something wrong, they will droop their ears and lower their tails. They walk towards you with their head lowered, looking at you with those puppy dog eyes. I like to believe this is similar to us as humans sometimes. When we have done something wrong, and we don't feel bad about it, we will often distract or move onto a new thing. When we do feel regret for our actions, we will often lower our heads and spirits. Until we apologize or confess, the wrong seems to haunt us. This spirit of regret and repentance is necessary in our prayer lives as well.

We are seeking to be pure, standing before a Holy and Righteous God.

Although we are corrupt and sinful individuals, it is our job to confess these sins as often as possible.

Intentional confession

Like we talked about last week, this is deliberate confession, not just saying oh whoops!

We must understand what our sin does to us, and also accept a life in Christ is greater than what any sin offers us.

This is an actual change in our lives, understanding how our sin hurts.

Sin against others

Sin isn’t just about us, but our sin can involve others.

The chapter before this in verses 5:23-24 says: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

Before we can present our prayer, we must do our best to right the wrongs of sin.

Notice this verse does not say if you have a wrong against your brother. It is if you believe your brother has something against you.

A life lived in repentance is in tune with the damaging effects of sin. We become aware of what our actions do to others, and we strive to help others live a life without sin as well.

We must repent as part of our prayer to best seek to offer something holy and acceptable.

We are trying to have a life that abstains from sin and leans into the holiness God has for us.

Prayer Requires Asking

[Read Matthew 6:11 and 13]

Daily bread?

This comes from Exodus 16, where the Israelites were messing things up again. Manna from Heaven.

God has delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, and they are wandering around in the desert.

They are complaining and hungry, yelling at God for bringing them out to die in the desert.

God provides bread for them, but there is a catch to this bread. They are only allowed to take enough for the day. Anything extra beyond that will spoil.

It teaches them reliance on God daily.

We come to God asking for His help with needs!

These often feel like small things.

God help me pass this test.

God help me win this game.

God help me get there on time.

We can also ask for God's help with more important topics.

God help me with wisdom for college decisions.

God help me to have strength enough to have a hard conversation.

<——We also come to God asking for His help with struggles, as found in verse 13.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil!

God wants to help us in the struggle, and it’s one of the coolest parts of the Christian faith.

It’s not just asking God to help us with our tasks and things to be done.

Active God who cares

God isn't sitting back waiting on us to mess up; He's actively involved in our lives wanting to be right there helping us; we have to ask!

We can view prayer in the wrong light where we believe He isn’t listening or busy.

God is with us at all times, but we must understand every ask has multiple answer possibilities.

Just because we ask for something does not mean the answer is yes.

We need the strength of God to overcome sin; that's why Jesus had to come.

God is willing to help in our struggles; we need to ask.

Prayer Requires Yielding

[Read Matthew 6:10]

It’s important to remember a simple truth, but a powerful one when it comes to prayer.

God doesn't serve us; we serve Him.

This gets twisted in culture and its “me, me, me” mentality.

This is something we must keep in the forefront of our minds whenever we pray.

God always answers

The beauty of prayer is that we are asking, and God will always answer.

He doesn't ignore us, but our prayer requires yielding to our desires.

In driving, a yield sign is present when traffic will come colliding into your lane.

A yield sign does not always necessitate a stop, so long as there is nothing else coming.

God isn’t always asking us to stop what we are doing or asking for. Sometimes He has something better coming, and this requires stopping us where we are.

God isn't going to work it out the way we want every time that would be so terrible for us. 

Optional Illustration: God’s no is Best- Story of Megan in the Summer of 2019

[Tip:This is an excellent spot to connect with your group by sharing a story from your own life. This enables them to connect with you from beyond the pulpit. It shows you as more than a speaker, but a person. Here is the story I used to communicate how God has something better than my desire. Students will learn God’s no is best.]

I was thinking about this concept of God saying no, and I went back to the day I graduated from high school. There was a girl I started dating that day; we'll call her Susan. Susan and I waited for all of high school to start dating, and we would have told you we were going to get married.

We dated for my first year of college, and heading into the second year of school; we knew our time of going to the same college was coming to an end. We believed we could do long-distance and were ready for the challenge. Second semester of school, though, she broke up with me. I was devastated. I remember spending countless nights on my knees, begging for God to change her heart and bring her back. I even used phrases like, "God, if you know what's best for me, you know it's her!"

To offer a bit of a spoiler, that never happened. Susan never came back, and we never dated again. What did happen is God would use the time away from her to prepare me for meeting my wife. If I had begged for Susan and God said yes simply because I wanted it, then my life would be radically different. Sometimes God's no is the best thing we need to hear.

The ability to yield and let God’s way be the only way placed my life exactly where it needed to be.

Had I learned to yield sooner, I could have spent more time chasing after what God wanted rather than my desires.

Yielding in prayer allows us to pray phrases like this, “God shape my desires into what you desire.”

Old Testament shows the need

Verse 10 states, “Your Kingdom come your will be done.”

The entire Old Testament exists to show us the need we have for Jesus. God laid out the rules, and we failed to follow them over and over again.

When we operate in this world of sin apart from Jesus, we eventually choose wrong.

Jesus was necessary for God’s best plan to come to life.

When we came up short, Jesus came and vouched for us.

A God that came to earth from Heaven to die for me, guaranteed cares for me.

A God who cares that much is a God who knows what’s best for me.

I yield to Him, and I seek Him in prayer.

Conclusion

Our prayers allow us to connect with God in a meaningful way. When we practice these four things in our prayers, we allow ourselves to enter the right framework of connection. If you can't remember what to pray, hopefully, our acronym helps. Praise, Repent, Ask, and Yield. I wrote this little short poem to help myself get in the correct mindset, as well. I hope it serves you in your journey to connect.

I praise the God whom I’m from,

I repent for what I’ve done.

I ask for His help to overcome,

I yield my plan for the risen one.

Small Group Questions.

How does/should praising God affect our prayers to God?

Why is it important to create a habit of repenting to God?

Does this habit affect our prayers?

What are some things it’s OK to ask God to help you with?

Are there things you shouldn’t ask God to help you with? Why?

Why is it so difficult to deal with when God does not answer our prayers the way we wanted Him to?