And When You Pray...

The Chicago pastor D. L. Moody said, “I’d rather be able to pray than be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught His disciples how to preach, but only how to pray.” The missionary to China Hudson Taylor said, “The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'”

The missionary to China Hudson Taylor said, “The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'”

A fisherman was at sea with his godless companions when a storm came up and threatened to sink their ship. His friends begged him to pray; but he said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that or even entered a church.” At their insistence, however, he finally cried out, “O Lord, I haven’t asked anything of You in 15 years, and if You help us now and bring us safely to land, I promise I won’t bother You again for another 15!”

Prayer is not an escape hatch for when things get tough. Prayer is a constant line of communication with God. It is a dialogue, not a monologue. One of the things that Jesus taught his disciples was how to pray. He didn’t want prayer to be mysterious. He didn’t want them to think that powerful prayer could only be said by vocational ministers or priests. He wanted them to know how to pray.

“Life is fragile, handle with prayer.”—Unknown

“Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer, except that which lies outside the will of God.”—Unknown

Open your Bibles to .

Matthew 6:5–8 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. 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.

Everybody wants their prayers to be heard and not only be heard, but be effective. Jesus gave his disciples some do’s and don’ts concerning prayer. Jesus wanted the prayers of his followers to go further than the ceiling, so He gave some instructions on how to be effective when you pray.

The first thing to note in this passage is Jesus says, “When you pray…”

Prayer should be a natural exercise for followers of Jesus.

Jesus assumes his followers are going to pray, so he wants to make sure they are going to pray in the right manner. It is amazing to me that prayer seems to be hardwired into humans. Every culture and every nationality, regardless of their culture, contains the concept of prayer. The main question is to whom are you praying, but most everyone prays. It seems that we have a need to pray, which is a recognition that there is something greater than us.

Jesus tells the people listening to Him, “You must not be like the hypocrites.” The word hypocrite was originally used of stage performers. They would wear different masks to portray different characters. As the word evolved it came to mean someone who is pretending to be someone or something they are not. The hypocrites Jesus referenced were the “church people” of his day. These people love to pray publically. They want everyone to see them and think well of them because they are bold enough to pray publically. Jesus is not condemning public prayer, Jesus is condemning the public performance of prayer. Prayer is not to be a performance.

Prayer should be motivated by a desire to hear from God.

Matthew 6:

Matthew 6:6 CSB

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.

Look for a place where you can shut out the world and be alone with God. I know that some have taught about having a “prayer closet” or some location where you can physically shut out distractions, but those concepts miss the idea that Jesus was teaching. How do I know this? In ancient times, many homes did not have more than one room and most didn’t have doors inside the house. When Jesus says “you private room”, he is speaking about an inner room of the house, rather than on the roof top or some external place. In other words, find a way to shut out the distractions when you pray so that you can focus on hearing from God. This isn’t about clearing your mind. This is about focusing your mind.

Look for a place where you can shut out the world and be alone with God. I know that some have taught about having a “prayer closet” or some location where you can physically shut out distractions, but those concepts miss the idea that Jesus was teaching. How do I know this? In ancient times, many homes did not have more than one room and most didn’t have doors inside the house. When Jesus says “your private room”, he is speaking about an inner room of the house, rather than on the roof top or some external place. In other words, find a way to shut out the distractions when you pray so that you can focus on hearing from God. This isn’t about clearing your mind. This is about focusing your mind.

I think it is no wonder that the evil one has mastered the fine art of distractions. He has burdened us with tons of distractions. We have burdened ourselves with tons of distractions. We are glued to our devices and all the distractions that come with them. We are distracted by entertainment. We are distracted by the pressures of our families, our jobs, and our personal life. We are a distracted generation. We are running from one thing to the next. When we pray, we must work to eliminate the distractions of life and focus on communicating with God. We have to discipline ourselves to shut out all distractions, mental, physical, and emotional; to meet with the Father.

As I was preparing this message, I was bombarded with distractions. Not all distractions are bad. Some are good things, but they pull your mind from the focus on what you are doing. What I have started doing is keeping a note pad beside my computer. Whenever a thought comes into my mind that is off-subject, I write it down. It releases my focus to go back to where my focus should be. It is a discipline to keep your mind focused as you pray.

Prayer brings us into communication with our Father.

Jesus tells us to be sure we address our prayers to the Father. Jesus uses a close personal title for God. God is our Father and just like a child going to his Father to ask for lunch, expecting his father to provide lunch, we are to go to God as our Father bringing our requests before Him with every expectation He will hear and give us what we need.

This brings to my mind the reality that not everyone can call God their Father. Sure, we are all God’s creations, but only those who put their faith in Jesus can call God their Father. Have you made the decision to put your faith in Jesus? Are you his follower? Jesus loves you so much. You are a sinner. Your sin leads you to do ungodly things and separates you from the God who loves you. We have a sin problem inside of us. Jesus went to the cross, died, and he rose again. He did all of this because he loves you and he wants to save you from your sin. He wants to transform you, so you can experience his goodness, so we could experience his grace. He wants to heal you and bring peace to your life. God wants to be your Father, but no one can come to the Father except through Jesus.

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Prayer should be a natural exercise for followers of Jesus. Prayer should be motivated by a desire to hear from God. Prayer brings us into communication with our Father.

Prayer is an alignment of our will to God’s will.

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.

Matthew 6:

This is such an important factor to having an effective prayer life. This is completely opposite to the “name it and claim it” false gospel. Prayer that is self-centered and that demands God to do what you want him to do is paganism. Prayer is not like a raffle. The more times you play, the better your chances get. If you buy more tickets or buy tickets more often, you improve your chances. God is not a genie. He does not exist to grant your wishes. Prayer is not a manipulation. If I just say that magic words, then God will give me what I want. Many false prophets have twisted the Scriptures to say things it does not say.

I was thinking about the example given in , where the prophets of Baal called out to their false god from morning to noon, trying to get their god to respond. At noon, Elijah taunted them saying maybe Baal was in deep thought and couldn’t be bothered or maybe he was busy or traveling, maybe he was asleep or using the potty. So they began to scream louder and to demonstrate their sincerity, they started cutting themselves. The event went on until evening. Then Elijah, steps up. He has the altar dosed with water three times with four large jars of water. Then he prayed, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” BAM! Fire falls from heaven and consumes the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil around the altar and all the water in the trench around the altar.

In Scripture, the most fervent and striking prayers are pretty short, but they contained great passion and a desire to do God’s will.

Moses asked God to spare the people of Israel in .

Solomon asked God for the wisdom to lead the people of Israel in .

Jabez, in - just some guy of the tribe of Judah who cried out to God, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”

The tax collector in , who just said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The dying thief in drawing his final breaths, said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

God does not want us to string empty words together. Christ condemns the spirit of fear and distrust which cause pagans and people who do not recognize a heavenly Father, to babble on and on in the belief that an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved god may grant their requests, if he feels like it. God wants sincerity of heart. He wants us to bring our need to Him trusting He will do what is in our best interest to do. We are not trying to manipulate God or wear Him out. The Father already knows what is in our best interests and what we need.

Have you ever caught yourself praying, but you are not thinking about what you are saying? You are just saying the same words over and over again. Meal times can be like this – we go through the motions, but aren’t really paying attention to what we are saying.

To be sincere is to be free of pretense, deceit, and hypocrisy. To be sincere is to be open and honest. I know God loves honest prayers. Think about it, He knows our heart anyway, why not tell Him what you really feel? Sometimes we come to God with flowery words and flamboyant speech, when all God wants is to have a real conversation with us. God wants open and honest conversation.

Don’t be afraid to tell God how you feel or what you are thinking, He knows anyway. You could be like the little boy who desperately wanted a bicycle for Christmas, so he asked his parents for the bike; His parents wanted to teach him the importance of prayer, so they suggested the young boy should write a prayer letter to Jesus."

He decided to take his parents advice and write down his prayers to Jesus. So he began writing

Dear Jesus, I’ve been a good boy this year and would love a new bicycle. Can you see if I can have a new Bicycle? Your Friend, Johnny

Now Johnny knew that Jesus really knew what kind of boy he had been that year, so he ripped up the letter and decided to give it another try.

Dear Jesus, I’ve been an OK boy this year and I want a new bicycle. Yours truly, Johnny

Well, Johnny knew this wasn’t totally honest so he tore it up and tried again.

Dear Jesus, I’ve thought about being a good boy this year and can I have a bicycle?

Then Johnny looked deep down in his heart, which by the way was what his parents really wanted. He knew he had been bad boy and hoped he would receive something simply because Jesus loved him.

He then crumpled up the letter, threw it in the trash can and went downstairs, where his mother had a Nativity set on the fire place mantle. He then took the statue of Mary wrapped it in a blanket and hid it under his bed.

Then he wrote this letter.

Dear Jesus, If you ever want to see your mother again – give me a bicycle.

I’m not quite sure that is what we are talking about; however, prayer is an alignment of our will to God’s will. Think about what Jesus’ model prayer.

Matthew 6:

Matthew 6:10 CSB

10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Think about what Jesus prayed in the Garden.

Matthew 26:39 CSB

39 Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Three times Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done. He knew what God’s will was and he struggled, but he was obedient to the will of the Father. When you pray, do you pray for God’s will to be done or for your will to be done? I think many times we are more concerned with our will being done than with God’s will being done. If your prayer life is going to be powerful, then you need to align your will to God’s will.

Prayer should be a natural exercise for followers of Jesus. Prayer should be motivated by a desire to hear from God. Prayer brings us into communication with our Father. Prayer is an alignment of our will to God’s will.

The power of prayer is in your hands. The power of prayer is at your fingertips. Humble yourself before God. Pray sincere, open and honest prayers before God. Shut out the distractions around you. Trust God to work in amazing ways. Prayer is the main business of the lives of those who walk with God.

<Praise Team begins to play>

Father God, we come to you this morning recognizing our need to examine our lives. Reveal to us anything that would be blocking us from experiencing the power of prayer. Forgive us for thinking that prayers are not enough. Forgive us for taking actions that are contrary to your will. Forgive us for not seeking you with a whole heart. Thank you for your patience and longsuffering with us. Break the hearts of stone and turn your people toward you to seek your face. You have promised that if we seek you that you will hear us and deliver us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This morning, I want to invite you to respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading in your life. Our deacons will be at the rear of the worship center, if you want to talk to someone about how you can have a relationship with God, please slip out of your row and talk to one of them. If you need prayer, please slip out of your row and let them pray with you. If you are ready to become a member of FBC Laredo, please meet me down front so that you can be presented to the church family for membership. If God is dealing in your heart and life right now, don’t let this moment pass. We exist to minister to one another. We are here to support you in your walk with God.