THE LORD’S PRAYER: STRESS RELIEF

INTRODUCTION

The Bible’s teaching on prayer leads overwhelmingly to one conclusion: Prayer changes things.  The first extended prayer recorded in Scripture takes place when Abraham finds out Yahweh is about to destroy the town of Sodom.  What is striking about the conversation it the way that Abraham states his case – clearly he feels he is talking to a person whose course of action really can be affected by what he says.  He asks God to spare the city for fifty righteous people.  When God agrees, you can almost hear the gears turning in Abraham’s head: Do I dare keep going?

He dares.  Abraham keeps whittling the number down forty, thirty, twenty; then one last shot: “Oh, do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more.  Suppose ten are found there.”

God nods his head once more and says yes.  And in the end he spares Lot and his family, even though there are only four of them and Lot is an immigrant to boot.

The moral of the story is this.  Prayer changes things.  We may never know the true effects of prayer this side of death.  But we do know this:  History belongs to the intercessors.

Philippians 4:4

“In everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  You say, “I don’t have time to pray.”  If you use the time you have worrying for praying then you’d find the time to pray.  If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about.  Don’t add any prayer time to your schedule.  Just pray when you used to worry.  If you’ll do that, you’ll find you have plenty of time for prayer.  If you pray instead of worry you will have a whole lot less to worry about.

He says “in everything.”  Not just some things but everything you can pray about it.  Some people think God only cares about religious things: God cares about how many people I talk to about Christ or how many people I invite to church, my giving, my tithing.  Is God interested in car payments?  Yes.  Is He interested in postnasal drip?  And the heartbreak of psoriasis?  Yes.  He’s interested in every detail of your life.

Phillips translation:  “When you pray, tell God every detail of your life.”  God is concerned about the big things and the small things.  He knows every detail of your life.  He has even the hairs on your head numbered.  The God who made every thumbprint unique, who made every voice pattern unique, who made every snowflake unique has no problem handing the details of your life.  There is nothing you can not pray about.  If it’s worth worrying about, it’s worth praying about.  There is nothing insignificant to God.  You can pray about anything and everything.  (Tell Oil Pan Plug Story)

It says,  “pray with petition.”  What does petition mean?   A petition means a specific, detailed, direct prayer.  Most people pray too vague so they never get any answers.  They pray such a general way.  Things like, “God, bless me.”  What is a blessing?  Can you define what a blessing is?  Sometimes a problem is a blessing.  Is that what you’re praying?  “God, give me a lot of problems. (a lot of blessings).”  You need to be specific.  Use petition.  And it says you can pray about any detail in your life. 

1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him, because he cares for you.”  Circle “all”.  We have to learn to unload our problems instead of worrying.  Prayer is a tremendous release valve.  People ask me, “How do you handle the stress?”  I just turn it over to the Lord.  I release it to God.  I love the word in Greek “unload”.  It literally means, “just let it drop.”  It’s not toss it or throw it or heave it fifteen feet.  It says this is the kind of load that’s so heavy you couldn’t hoist it if you had to – just let it go.  He says that’s what God says to do with your worries.  Dump them on God. Unload them.  Learn to unload your stress through prayer.  Paul says unload them, give God every detail of your life.  Peter says unload all your worries since He’s looking after you. 

I read recently that major life insurance companies have done studies and discovered that if you attend church every week you will live on the average 5.7 years longer than people who don’t attend church every week.  Why?  One guess I have is that those people who do go to church unload on the Lord.  They decompress.  They let God have their worries.  If you don’t talk it out to God, you’ll take it out on yourself.  When you swallow your worries your stomach keeps score.  You’ve got to let it go, unload it.

1 Peter 5:7 (Phillips translation) “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon Him for you are His personal concern.”  James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.”  Just ask God to help you with those worries, those problems, those stresses.

Here’s the insight: No problem is too big or too small to pray about. 

Paul says if you want to relieve stress here’s what you do: Worry about nothing and pray about everything.  Simple, but it’s something that you have to learn over and over.

          Perhaps there is no prayer that has been more widely abused and mindlessly repeated than the Lord’s Prayer itself.  You hear it prayed at open assemblies where Christians and non-Christians alike are instructed to say or repeat it.  You hear it mumbled in a church service, usually with no understanding of what we’re actually promising or asking God.  Even TV and movie characters have been known to resort to it when things look bleak and personal charm had failed to solve their problems.

·        Often it’s prayed only in public (for effect).

·        Often it’s prayed without thinking (vain repetition).

·        And more often, I suspect, it’s not prayed at all (prayerlessness).

It is susceptible to all three mistakes of mishandled prayer.  I want you to see the Lord’s Prayer, not as a memorized mantra, but as a pattern you can use at all times, in all situations, and all day long to express prayers to God that connect and communicate.

Notice the obvious progression of the prayer – from praise, to promises, to petitions, to parting reminders. See how it easily breaks into even series of three, making it easy to use and remember.

The Three-Part Address

Our                                                                       Stresses community

·        The use of the first person plural shows we’re all in this together.  Have you ever noticed that all the first person pronouns in the Lord’s prayer are plural?

o       Our Father

o       Our daily bread

o       Our debts and our debtors

o       Lead us not into temptation

o       Deliver us from evil

·        According to Jesus, prayer should always remind us that we are part of a larger community of believers.

·        Even though we do most of our praying alone, we should continually recognize that we live and function in a much bigger box than our prayer closets.

Father                                                                             Stresses relationship

·        By addressing God as Father, Jesus is doing something radical.  He speaks to him like we would speak to our fathers.  He is authorizing the disciples to relate to the sovereign God of the universe with the intimacy of a child climbing up in his daddy’s lap.

Who is in heaven                                                   Stresses authority

·        This phrase focuses our attention on God’s ability to know and care for every detail of our lives.  I have found that my job in prayer is not to inform God; it is to enjoy Him.  I feel at home in his presence; I don’t have to avoid Him out of fear or boredom.

The Three-Part Commitment

Hallowed be Your name                               Commitment to holiness

·        I know how the important the matter of reputation was to my father.  But it is of even greater importance to our heavenly Father.  Of all the things Christ had accomplished, He had put a face on the name of God.  And so do we – every time we maintain our integrity and honor our commitment to hallow His name.

Your kingdom come                                    Commitment to participation

·        Everywhere we go and everything we do has kingdom implications.  And if our heart’s desire is constantly trained to see His kingdom come, we’ll be ready to share the hope of the gospel with anyone we meet, anywhere we are.

Your will be done                                         Commitment to obedience

·        When we pray this for our lives we are saying that it requires more than your ears, your mind, and your mouth.  It requires all of you, all the time.  You are not only committing yourself to His kingdom but also to the full accomplishment of His will in your life.

The Three-Part Petition

Daily Bread                                                         Trust for physical provision

·        Today we tend to separate our lives into two distinct compartments – the secular and the sacred – and that the practical needs of everyday life occupy one place, while Christian faith and responsibilities occupy another.  The early church did not see it that way.  When you look at Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11, you get the idea that the first-century Christians combined their Lord’s Supper with the enjoyment of a potluck dinner.  The “breaking of bread” was a crucial part of their lives together, because it helped sustain many of the early believers who were living hand to mouth.  Their gatherings had both physical and spiritual significance.

Forgiveness of debts                                  Trust for cleansing from sin

·        Debt is a concept I am sure we all can understand.  Some people worry a great deal about debt.  But when was the last time your sin kept you up at night?  Sin is serious – always serious – because it drives a wedge between us and our Father.  The time we spend in debt to God is time we spend away from Him.  Clinging to sin and seeking His kingdom cannot happen at the same time.

·        Confession literally means to say the same thing.  It is not a sweeping apology that makes us feel better on the outside while making no impact on our hearts.  We are to be specific with God and fully open to him.  Anything less than full disclosure always brings less than full release from the bondage of sin.

Deliverance from evil                                Trust for power over

Temptation

·        1 Cor 10:13 tells us that God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.  By praying this we are asking God to spare us from exposure to situations that would severely test our vulnerability.

The Three-Part Benediction

Yours is the kingdom                                 Focuses on His rule

The power                                                  Focuses on His sufficiency

The glory                                                   Focuses on His presence

Conclusion

            When we pray this pattern, prayer becomes what Jesus intended it to be: a conscious, choice to open our lives to God and invite Him in to accomplish His purpose in and through us.  It also enables us to seek His resources unselfishly as we commit ourselves to the advancement of His kingdom.