Becoming Prayerful
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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.”
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Luke 11:1-4
Introduction:
Sports seem to have their own language with their own phrases and lingo.
I Right 494 sprint right go
Baseball uses sign language.
Anyone watching the olympics: Such a beautiful triple axle to a double toe. Fantastic. I don’t know what any of that means!
Even in theater, they say things like “Break a leg.” Which means good luck!
You probably use some specific jargon in your own field. (Notice even in world of nonsports, we still call area’s of expertise fields. It’s like we can’t get away from sports.)
Introduction:
As followers of Jesus, we do have our own jargon. And one word that sets us apart from so many others is prayer.
Sure other religions pray, but Christian prayer is different. And today we’re going to see why.
Turn in your Bibles to .
Now I have no doubt that some of you might have been expecting me to give you a prayer guide to help you pray.
Acts: Adoration, Confessions, Thanksgiving, Supplication
Pray: Praise, repent, yield
I’ll admit these are helpful when it comes to staying focused, but they aren’t helpful if you don’t know the one to whom you are speaking.
When teaching on prayer, as I’ve done in the past, I’ve always found myself going to David. If you really want to know how to play, watch an expert. If you want to learn how to pray, do the same.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
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.”
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
If God gives us himself then we have no need to fear.
Prayer is not about what we get from God, but being with God.
Prayer is not about what want to get from God, prayer is rooted in the invitation to be in a deeper more meaningful relationship with God, through Jesus.
Big Idea: May you desire God above all else!
Big Idea: May you desire God above all else!
1. Let prayer be an OVERFLOW of your heart.
1. Let prayer be an OVERFLOW of your heart.
8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
ps 27:
Explanation: It’s not hard to see that David loves his God. With all of his heart. And dropped throughout his prayer is total adoration that can feel that even if David doesn’t get what he’s asking for, he is content to simply have God. You might say, well wasn’t David a murderer? Didn’t he cheat on his wife? How can that type of person be “a man after God’s own heart?” It simply tells us that our invitation into a deeper more meaningful relationship with God isn’t dependent upon what we do or we don’t do, but dependent upon what God has done.
David strayed and David always came back. And in his prayers we find a man desperately chasing after the one who rescued him from himself; his sin, his enemies, and even his own family.
Illustration: In sports, people always talk about heart. If you’ve ever seen the movie Rudy, you can see what a little bit of heart can do. When people talk about having heart, they are talking about achieving beyond your ability. You can have all of the ability in the world, but without heart, you aren’t going to succeed. You can memorize the plays, but without effort, you won’t succeed. The same is true about your walk with Jesus. You can know all about God and have a advanced degrees in Jesus and not truly know Him. That was the Pharisees’ problem. a high school drop out can have a deeper more meaninful relationship with Jesus than a seminary professor because of heart. Let’s not forget that David wasn’t anyone’s first choice for king but God’s!
have never regretted sitting down and talking with my wife or my daughters. When they say, hey can we sit here and just talk, “How was your day? Good, How was yours? What is one great thing that happened today? Anything bad happen? You excited for anything tomorrow? Anxious? Now, while I say, I’ve never regretted it, it takes putting down the TV remote, or my phone and being fully present. That’s what a relationship is all about. And I speak out of an overflow of my love for them. And sometimes I don’t need to say anything. I can just listen.
Application: Do you struggle to talk with God? Check your own heart. Don’t only come to God when you need something. Don’t only pray when your on the mountaintop so as to thank God. Don’t only pray in the valleys so as to be lifted out. Learn to pray in the mundane.
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
2. TRUST God always.
2. TRUST God always.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
Explanation: One of the biggest barriers in any relationship is a lack of trust. And far too often we bring that lack of trust from a previous relationship. As some point we God burned and coming back from that is hard. Even in David’s prayer, we see him reminding himself of what God has already down to prove his trustworthliness. But what happens when God says no to our request for a million dollars, a new job, a pony. Do we trust that God, who can see everything including factors that we cannot, knows what is best for us?
Here is where many of us will get stuck. We’ll think about those who’ve had prayer answered and feel envious as we continue to wait. Or we will see others who haven’t had prayers answers and think there is something wrong with them.
Illustration: Coaches are tricky thing. In part, they don’t really do anything on the field, but seem to get a lot of credit for the win. Sometimes a coach makes a decision that the players don’t like. A player start talking about it and bickering and complaining. Now unless your name is Lebron, that is probably not going to end well for you.
Now imagine you coach knows everything even what the result of the game is, would you trust Him a little more?]
God is so much more than a coach because he is intricately involved in all of His creation and would do well to trust him.
In , we find a shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Application In , we find a shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer.
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.”
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
For many a huge barrier to effective prayer is that word “Father.” So much baggage. And in many cases we miss that Jesus was saying, “God is a good father.” You can trust Him.
: Prayer is not about getting what you want. God is not a cosmic santa clause or genie in a bottle for us to use whever we want or need something. Prayer is about the beauty of a God who desires a relationship with His children. Who sent His son Jesus to die on a cross to make a way for a deeper more meaningful relationship.
When you pray, out of the overflow of your heart, talk to God. And maybe not at first, but over time, you’ll begin to trust that He is listening.
3. DESIRE God more than your prayer.
3. DESIRE God more than your prayer.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Explanation: Verse 4 seems to imply that this is all that David is asking of God, but the rest of Psalm have other requests. So what is David saying? David is saying that this here is the most important thing. And if you say no to everything, please answer this one. Please let me have a deeper more meaningful relationship with you.
Illustration: In sports it is easy to get caught up in the individual goals or even the team goals like a championship. But a team will never be successful if no one actually likes being a part of the team. You hate your coach, don’t feel like you can trust you teammates to have your back so every just looks out for themselves.
A team must start with team work before thinking about a championship. And if you are worried about your own numbers, eventually it will end up bad.
Application:
Conclusion: Let prayer be an overflow of your heart.
Trust God
Desire God more than your prayer.
This is where the shoe hits the court. the Cleat hits the field. The ice skate hits the ice.
At the end of the day, your relationship with God is between you and him. I can’t do it for you. Your parents can’t do it for you. You have to decide....
Reflection:Will you accept the invitation into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God?
Reflection:Will you accept the invitation into a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God?
Let’s spend some time in prayer.
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.”
2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread,
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,