How Do I Pray?

Matthew Jones

The Mount (Sermon on The Mount) • Sermon • Submitted 21 days ago • Presented 22 days ago

Matthew 6:5–15

Prayer

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1. The Hook

— In 2 Samuel 12:15-23 we read about David’s response to Nathan the Prophet coming to him and telling him of his sin with Bathsheba. We find that there would be a harsh consequence.

David is driven to grief and prayer. for 7 days David fasted and continued to seek God on behalf of the child. Praying that the Lord would be gracious or provide mercy for him.

Scholars believe during this time Psalm 51 was written. David understood the magnitude of his sin. He pleads for God to create in Him a clean heart.

His answer is given when the child passes. But we also see the answer to his prayer of having a new created in him. His response to the child passing displays a hearts focused on God. 2 Samuel 12:23 “23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.””

— In Acts 9 and 22 we read about Saul of Tarsus on the Road to Damascus who was in pursuit of fleeing Christians. His goal was to destroys those who were in rebellion of the Jewish Religion. His plan is haulted when he meets Jesus on that road. He is blinded and then is led to town during that time Luke Records in Acts 9:11 “11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,” In verse 9 we learn he may have spent these three days in prayer to God.

Saul received his answer when Ananias comes in and helps him regain his sight but the greater victory was Ananias helped him become a disciple of Christ.

— Prayer is powerful. It is used in times of worship, confession, thanksgiving, lament, and petition. It is said that the Bible records approximately 650 prayers. Personal prayers, corporate prayers, private prayers. These are moments where we see men and women opening their hearts up to God and communing with Him through this great blessing he has given us.

— With this great blessing comes great responsibility. I often wonder where did I learn to pray? Have you ever thought about where did you learn to pray?

When I was younger I recall moments laying in bed at night requesting God to not let an asteroid come and destroy earth while I am asleep.

I can remember years later requesting God to help me find the right woman to marry.

Interesting side note — God led me to Jesus first while developing a relationship with Heather!

When I started to see men praying in corporate worship I started to listen and take note of what they said. I heard numerous men use phrases that were similar and so I added those to my prayer phrase bank?

I finally had my chance to pray before the congregation in Waynoka, OK. I believe the first prayer I said was for the bread during the Lord’s Supper.

I went into my prayer phrase and Ask God to bless this bread which we were about to partake and that would partake of it in a manner worthy in Jesus name, Amen.

Whew I almost fell out trying to lead that prayer.

I had some other opportunities to pray before we went off to Bear Valley.

While we were in a deep dive of ministry school, we were encouraged by some of our instructors to develop a strong prayer life at home.

I started to think to myself…I don’t think my prayer for the bread prayer that i had engrained into my head is what this prayer life looks like.

This lead me to finally make the realization I didn’t know how to pray while i was by myself or if it was me and my family and or just me and heather.

And then I asked, HOW DO I PRAY?

2. The Context

In 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.””

The disciples struggled with this same question I had. How do we pray? They knew the disciples of John were well acquainted with fasting and praying and they wanted to learn. The next verses we see an abbreviated version compared to Matthew’s account of what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer.

Luke’s account shows the importance of persistence in our prayer life while Matthew seems to be discussing more of the posture and motives behind our prayer life.

We began chapter 6 talking about the new point Jesus was preaching on concerning Rightouesness. Matthew 6:1 “1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

— He is warning those hearing his sermon on the mount about the motives they have in practicing these righteous acts.

— We talked about our giving and the mercy we provide to others. a couple of weeks ago.

— this week as you can imagine we are going to discuss prayer.

3. The Text

PRAY TO BE SEEN BY GOD NOT MEN —

Matthew 6:5–6 “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.”

PRAY BECAUSE YOU TRUST NOT NOT YOUR PERFORMANCE —

Matthew 6:7–8 “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.”

1 Kings 18:26–29 “26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.”

The Gentile world often believed that the names of gods possessed magical power.

Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of what are called the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) from roughly the second century BC through the fifth century AD.

These prayers often contain:

* endless repetitions

* meaningless syllables

* long lists of divine names

* secret words

* magical formulas

A typical prayer might repeat names dozens of times because the worshiper believed saying the formula correctly forced the deity to act.

For them, prayer was closer to casting a spell than speaking to a Father.

Jesus says,“Do not be like them.”

MODEL PRAYER

Matthew 6:9–13 “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.”