Be Seen: Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Recalculating Prayer
INTRODUCTION
Prayer is powerful.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Hannah prayed to have a son.
Jonah prayed for deliverance from the fish.
Nehemiah prayed for Jerusalem
Jesus prayed and Lazarus was raised from the dead.
Christians prayed and Peter was miraculously released from prison.
We live in a day when Christianity is losing it's political edge in America.
In 1950’s over half of Americans attended church on a regular basis.
90% claimed to be Christians by identification.
By the 1960’s Christian influence began to slide.
But we have not and will not lose our power.
God is just as powerful today. But we have not and will not lose our power.
It is time to pray
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.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
7 Qualities of Powerful Prayer
7 Qualities of Powerful Prayer
1. It is Private (5-6)
1. It is Private (5-6)
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.
You are talking to God, not people.
Prayers are not a way to show your spirituality to others.
Prayers are not a way to manipulate man but to communicate with God.
2. It is Intimate (7-8)
2. It is Intimate (7-8)
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.
"empty phrases"- proving your intellect or worth to God.
Magic formula.
"Jesus' name"= Hocus Pocus to many people.
God already knows- pray as one having a conversation with someone who already knows but deeply cares to hear you say it.
Adam and Eve in the garden.
3. It is God Centered (9)
3. It is God Centered (9)
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
The Arabic Word Jesus would have said here was "Abba"= word used by Jewish children for their father. Authority, warmth and intimacy of a loving father.
In Heaven= reminder of his Sovereign rule.
Good and evil are not in a battle of equals.
Evil is fighting hard and can only succeed when God allows it.
Omnipotent= all powerful.
Omniscient= all knowing
omnipresent= all places
Hallowed= treated with the greatest honor and set apart as holy.
Prayer is a conversation with the Sovereign Lord.
4. It is Kingdom Focused (10)
4. It is Kingdom Focused (10)
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Prayer for his Kingdom. Citizens of His Kingdom are concerned about His Kingdom and not our own kingdom.
We want His will to be done on this earth as it is in heaven.
We can open our eyes and see that God's will is not being fulfilled on this earth.
God allowed choice and with it came sin. Sin is man going against God's will.
We need to be praying for supernatural protection from the affects of the fallen world in which we live.
5. It is Need Directed (11)
5. It is Need Directed (11)
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
Hard for us to differentiate needs from wants.
God is not a magic genie who is enslaved to answer your wishes.
He is a loving parent who gives good gifts to his children.
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
God cares about the desire of your heart when your heart is aligned with His will. When we are after His glory and not our own glory.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
This ties in great with verse 10- It's about his Kingdom and as his servants he will take care of our needs.
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
6. It is Relationship Driven (12, 14-15)
6. It is Relationship Driven (12, 14-15)
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Relationship with Man
"as we also have forgiven out debtors"
Stand upon your integrity and not that you are better than others.
Don't compare yourself to others in your prayer.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
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.”
We cannot have a bad relationship with others and have an intimate relationship with God.
Relationship with God
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This does not refer to justification.
But sin does affect our continued relationship.
we cannot stop being forgiven.
But it will affect our intimacy with God.
Our salvation is secure…
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin affects our intimacy with God.
As people who live in the Kingdom we must be people who do not hold grudges. We must forgive! We do not have the right not to.
7. It is Spiritually Prioritized (13)
7. It is Spiritually Prioritized (13)
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Praying away temptation.
Understand as- "Allow us to be spared from difficult circumstances that would tempt us to sin."
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
However, we are lead into situations that test us. He allows trials and temptations to enter our lives.
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
We should not pray for temptation.
However, we should pray that when temptation comes we are delivered from it.
Praying for Deliverance from consequences of evil, fallen world.
“God- keep me from making the sinful mistakes that allow evil to be in my life.”
Deliverance is not in not having consequences. Deliverance is in us not falling into the sin and having to live with the consequences.
2 Consequences for sin in your life.
Eternal consequences- paid for by the blood on the cross.
Earthly consequences- left behind even when they have been forgiven by God.
Sometimes God chooses to heal the earthly consequences but these are the exception and not the rule.
Most have to live with the earthly consequences of a sin.
Addiction, cancer, divorce, disability, prison.
Earthly consequences can come even from sin that happens after salvation. You have eternal security but not protection from the affects of evil.
CONCLUSION
When you pray does God hear your prayer?
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
God hears all prayers. He listens to believers. Sin separates the relationship.
Jesus died for you.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
How do you need to pray today?
How do you need to pray today?
Do your prayers have power?
Maybe your prayer does not have power because of your failure in one of the areas we see in this prayer.
