Prayer

Good afternoon students! Happy Wednesday!

We are in a new series about spiritual disciplines, and tonight we are talking about prayer

We have a lot to break down today so lets get the ball rolling

we are going to be in Matthew 6:5-13 tonight so if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and flip there

Now this passage is in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount

so this passage is literally Jesus teaching people how to pray

so thats what we are going to cover today, is how to pray

I think a lot of us in the room would say they don’t know how to correctly pray.

so they don’t really do it

so I want to address that person first

just because you don’t feel confident in how to do it or your ability to, doesn’t mean you should not do it

the more you do it, the more confident you’re going to feel doing it

and it takes time. bc what you’re doing is building a relationship

you and your best friends didn’t just instantly have a perfect relationship

it takes time to build. and its still getting better

you’re building a relationship with God, and it gets better with time

taxes story:

up till 3 years ago, I had never done taxes before

i was claimed as a dependent by my parents as i’m sure all of you are

3 years ago, I had to do them myself and I had no idea what I was doing

I had no clue how to file my taxes, but I still had to

or they woulda taken me off to jail

i had to figure that thing out

and ya know what? they sent that thing back to me 4 or 5 different times

and its not a short form y'all. that things hefty

but eventually they accepted it. and it had les and less errors every time they sent it back

because I was getting better at something I had no idea how to do

the point is, even if you don’t know how to pray, you should still engage in it

its having a conversation with God and you’re growing your relationship with Him by doing it

prayer is not a duty for us. its a gift

Prayer is one of the greatest privileges and most powerful tools God has given us

God knows everything already. praying is not making Him aware of things

He doesn’t need our prayers

but He still wants us to voice things to Him

because it grows our heart for Him

you can’t have a relationship with someone you’re not communicating with

Love for God cannot be sustained without a relationship with him, and such a relationship is nurtured by prayer.

Thomas Schreiner

So thats why the majority of today’s lesson is going to be covering how Jesus says we should pray

because you need to be doing it, like all the time, in order to grow your heart for Him

When we pray, God starts changing our hearts to want the things that He wants

Our wills start looking more like His will when we pray

with that being said we are going to dive into this passage in Matthew 6.

Jesus actually starts off by giving us a couple things that prayer is NOT

so we are going to start with those then look at how He tells us we should pray

Praying is not about looking holy

Matthew 6:5–6 CSB

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

don’t pray so that you look like you know what you’re doing. thats not the point

Jesus isn’t saying the we should just not pray publicly

He’s saying that if you’re praying publicly with the intention to be seen and heard by others

so that other people think you are so smart or so holy

then you should check your heart

we don’t pray to try to attract the attention of others or of God

we are not praying for the attention or praise from others

we do it to communicate with our Father

You do not need the right words to pray

Matthew 6:7–8 (CSB)

7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

God does not expect you to recite some perfect phrase in your prayers

There is not some perfect formula for talking to Him

He says, “pray to your Father”,

He is already bent towards pouring out love on you

He wants you to be yourself when you’re talking with Him

Like the verse says, you are not going to be heard just because of what you say

He already knows

so be yourself when talking to Him

don’t try to pray like me or Micah does

just pray to Him what is on your heart

thats ultimately what prayer is about

opening your heart towards Him

The Lords Prayer

5 main points from this

as we go through this, we are also going to pray verse by verse

because I think that might help us to better understand the point Jesus is making in this passage

-Acknowledge and praise Him for who He is

Matthew 6:9 (CSB)

9 “Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

your name be honored as holy.

Jesus does not say pray this word for word

He says pray “like this”

He starts with saying, Our Father in Heaven

Recognizing that God is our loving Father

and we have a personal relationship with Him

when we acknowledge He is our Father, it reminds us of our identity in Him as His children

“your name be honored as Holy”

We begin prayer with worship

acknowledging His holiness, His power, His might, His love, His justice, His mercy, ect..

acknowledge who He is and praise Him for who He is (point 1)

PRAY:

Lord, thank you for who you are

thank you for being our Father in Heaven who loves us and cares for us

thank you for the relationship we get to have with you

as letting us be your children

you are holy and wonderful and your name is above every other

2 point is

- Pray in His will

Matthew 6:10 (CSB)

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

We should align our prayers with God’s will, rather than just asking for what we want

Our prayers will begin to shift from our problems to God’s will

from what we want to “whatever You want God”

prayer is an act of surrender. asking God to align our hearts and our desires with His purposes

so, ask God to help you live according to His plan and not your own

PRAY:

Father would you please help us to live and walk according to your plan and not our own

would you change our desires to be according to what you want

Lord, we say now your will above our own

- Pray for provision

Matthew 6:11 (CSB)

11 Give us today our daily bread.

point 3 is pray for provision

now that we have acknowledged who God is, and worshipped Him, and prayed “His will over our own”

we pray for our own needs

food, health, finances

But do you notice its says DAILY bread

we aren’t praying for an abundance of way more than we need

we aren’t praying to win the lottery and become a billionaire so we never have to worry again

we are praying for what we need that day

This teaches us to depend on God daily

rather than worrying about the future, we trust God to provide for us each day

PRAY:

Father thank you for providing for us each and every day

Lord I pray that if there are any needs in the room tonight, that you would work

If there is a family in financial trouble, food insecurity, a family with health issues going on

Lord we just depend and rely on you

would you work in any and all of our needs

- Pray with a repentant heart

Matthew 6:12 (CSB)

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

We need to be regularly confessing our sins to God and asking for His forgiveness and mercy

yes, He paid for all your sins on the cross, but we still need to have a heart that wants to be far away from sin

and when we admit our mistakes to God, our heart grows toward that

point 4

pray with a repentant heart

The second part of that is forgiveness is not one sided

we are called to forgive others

Christ has forgiven you of so much

He has also forgiven that brother or sister in Christ that you’re holding a grudge against

we have to learn to forgive as Christ has forgiven us

PRAY:

Lord we ask for forgiveness from our sins and admit that we fall short

Thank you for sending your son Jesus to pay for our sins when we didn’t deserve it

Father as you have forgiven us, would you help us to forgive those around us

because when we do that, we look more like you

- Pray for strength to overcome temptations

Matthew 6:13 (CSB)

13 And do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

God does not tempt anyone

we know that from James 1:13 “…God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.”

It’s saying, Lord, guide me away from situations where I might fall into sin

We can pray that God would give us wisdom or discernment in our choices

the people you hang out with and the places you go, could put you into temptation to sin

we ask God to direct us away from those temptations

We also pray asking God to deliver us from the evil one

we are in a spiritual war

the enemy is attacking and he wants you to fall into temptation

so we pray for protection over our hearts and minds

that God would strengthen us to not fall into the enemies schemes

that we wouldn't give into sin

we can not overcome sin on our own

we need God’s help and strength

so our last main point is

pray for strength to overcome temptation

PRAY:

God, we realize that we can not overcome sin on our own

we need your help and we ask for it

would you give us wisdom, strength, and protection against sin and temptation

INVITATION:

The Lord’s Prayer is a really powerful framework for us to pray in

Its not a script or something you have to do

God just shows us how we can use it to grow our heart for Him

Prayer is about authentic heart felt communication with God

In the prayer Jesus has us address God as “Our Father”

so I just want to ask you in the room

Is God truly your Father?

Do you have a personal relationship with Him?

Do you live according to His will?

Do you trust Him for your needs, struggles, future

Do you think you have been just going through the motions but you don’t really know the one you’re speaking and praying to?

If you’re in the room and you would say that you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus and you want that

in a moment we are going to say another prayer together

just repeat after me out loud or to yourself

but what I want you to hear is that its not about the words of this prayer

that is not what saves you

its about your heart posture

do you really want a relationship with Jesus

do you really want to experience His love and be saved from your sins

BOW HEADS, CLOSE EYES

If thats you and you want to begin that relationship with Jesus, just repeat after me

SINNERS PRAYER

with every head bowed and every eye still closed, if you prayed that would you just look up at me

no one is looking around

no one is going to judge you

if you raised your hand, please stand up

walk to back to a leader

PRAY