Teach Us to Pray

Introduction:

We’ve been going through this study on habits.

“Spiritual habits are the slow, daily way Jesus makes us look more like Himself.” - John Mark Comer

We’ve talking about studying God’s Word and making it prominent in our lives. We looked last week at how we need to make prayer a habit in our lives.

Last week we specifically talked about some of the things that we can get out of prayer—Strength to resist temptation, wisdom to understand God’s will, and provision for what we need to do God’s will.

This week, we’re continuing in prayer, but I want to back up a little because sometimes prayer can become a means to an end. I’m praying so I don’t sin, I’m praying so that I will know what to do, I’m praying so I can get what I need…

While there’s nothing wrong with praying for those things, we miss the true reward of prayer.

Prayer isn’t about the outcome—it’s about the encounter.

Think about Jesus praying.

Luke 5:16 “16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”

Luke 6:12 “12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”

Luke 9:28 “28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”

Luke 11:1 “1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.””

Luke 22:41 “41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,”

Jesus wasn’t just praying in those moments to get something from the Father; He was praying to be with the Father.

Even in the garden we see Jesus asking for another way, but then submitting to the Father’s will. But think about this for a moment. What was Jesus about to face? What was Jesus about to lose? For a moment on the cross, when Jesus was suffering the punishment for all the sin of the world, yours and mine included, He was separated from the Father. Jesus, who has lived in perfect union with the Father and Holy Spirit for eternity past, was going to lose that perfect union for a moment. His prayer was Him needing to be with the Father knowing what He and the Father were both about to face.

Matthew 6:5–13 ESV

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 isn’t about the outcome—it’s about the encounter.

Jesus begins by talking about the religious people who are supposedly serving God. They pray so that people will see them praying. And their reward is the opinion of others. That’s it.

But Jesus tells them and us that we are rewarded by the Father when we pray in secret.

What is that reward—God Himself. The reward of prayer is that you spent time with God.

I have some people in my life that I love to be around because my time with them is fun and encouraging. Even if we have to talk about some hard things there is a blessing in just being with them.

That is just a taste of what it is supposed to be like when we pray. I think sometimes we just pray and forget that there is a God who loves us on the other side of that prayer.

Prayer is about being with God, not getting something from God.

Jesus goes on to refer to the pagans of His day. They would recite these phrases over and over again. Sometimes it would be mindless babbling. The idea is that if you say something enough times your god has to answer you. It’s basically a magical spell that manipulates your god into serving you and doing what you want him to do.

Jesus is very quick to say that you don’t do the Father like that. And when He says that the Father already knows what we need. He’s not saying don’t ask God for anything, but for us to be aware that when we ask, if we truly need it, then God will give it.

Jesus then gives them what we call The Lord’s Prayer.

“Our Father”—there is so much in those two words. While the Old Testament refers to God as the Father of Israel as a nation, Jesus is the first one to pray to God and call Him Father. And He teaches us to do the same.

Yes He is holy, but He is also Father.

And of course that may not sit well with you if you didn’t or still don’t have a good father. Let me add though that all throughout the Old Testament there is a Hebrew word for compassion that is used to refer to God’s love for His people. The word is rachem, what’s important is that this word literally refers to the love that a mother has for her child as soon as it is born.

It’s a natural love that doesn’t have to be asked for — it just happens. That times 1000 is the love that God, the Father has for you. And He calls upon us to refer to Him by that name.

And He loves it, just as much as any good dad loves to come through the door and hear his kids shout daddy and come running to him.

Prayer is more than this official thing. It is a moment alone between you and your Father. It’s a moment when you can jump into His arms, cry on His shoulder, or just sit and talk with Him.

Being with God changes our outlook on the outcome of our prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…”

Anybody using hallowed on a regular basis. It is basically the verb form of the word Holy or Sanctified. It literally means more than sinless. It means separate from all others, different. There is no name like the name of our God. There is no one like our God.

God’s presence reveals Who God is and what He wants and will change what we pray for—what outcome we are looking for.

We are praying to the God who is over all things. “In heaven”

In heaven can literally mean the place, or the heavens (the sky or universe), it can mean the air. The point is that this is the Father who is above all and present everywhere.

There is no place where we will go that God is not God and where God is not in control. God can do whatever He wants wherever He wants however He wants.

2. We are praying to the God who knows all things.

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done…is a confession that God knows better than us. So we want His will to be done, not ours.

We don’t know what is best. But we do know that God’s Kingdom is what needs to have influence in this world.

“Give us our daily bread…” We don’t really know what we need, but God knows what we need. This is us trusting God to provide what we need for today. We’d like to have stuff saved up for tomorrow, but there will always be something we have to wait for tomorrow to trust God to provide it then.

3. We are praying to the God who cares deeply about our relationship with Him.

Sin separates us from God. Sin doesn’t make a Christian lost again. We are still a christian, but it does hinder our relationship with God.

Bitterness and anger will cause us to focus on someone else’s sin so much that we lose sight of the grace that God has shown us. And we will be so bitter that we can’t enjoy God’s presence in prayer.

And our goal to avoid sin, must be grounded in a desire to keep a closeness to God our Father, not a desire to prove something or to have something to boast about. Our prayer to avoid sin can become legalistic if we are not careful.

Conclusion: Why do you pray?

Pray to be with God, not to get something from God.

God is the means and the end. He is the focus of our prayer. He is the reward of our salvation. God is everything to us.

Jesus died and the Father poured out His wrath towards sin on Jesus to make a way for us to be freed from our sin so we could follow Him. And one of the blessings of following God is that we get to talk to Him. We get to sit with Him.

Prayer is often seen as a duty or an obligation when it should be seen as a delight.

Next Steps:

Some of you need to start praying—I would encourage you to sit for a moment when those two words at the beginning. Our Father…recognize the significance of that as you talk with God.

Some of you who already pray need to check your motives—If your prayers are mostly about getting something from God, I would spend some time this week just sitting with God and asking what He wants you to talk about and pray for. Don’t rush through your list of needs. Process each one after you confess that He is your Father and knows what’s best. As you go through each request ask God to help you see if this is in His will or is this just something to make your life more comfortable?

Say yes to a relationship with Jesus Christ.