The Model of Prayer

ETS: Jesus gives the model prayer to the disciples in order to instruct them on how to address the Father.

ETS: Jesus gives the model prayer to the disciples in order to instruct them on how

to address the Father.

ESS: Jesus gave the model prayer to Christians in order to instruct them on how to address the Father.

Introduction:

address the Father.

OSS: Christians will appropriately and intentionally go to their Father in prayer

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

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.

Matthew 6:9-1

Introduction:

When I was a little boy, they placed me in my Aunt Dean’s lap for the first time since I was a baby. Sitting in Aunt Dean’s lap was very strange and weird and awkward. Aunt Dean was a very elderly woman and she had a strange feel to me as a young boy. She looked different to me. She had a smell that was weird and peculiar. So, I sat in her lap uncomfortably and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to do.

Why was it so strange to be in Aunt Dean’s lap? There was nothing wrong with Aunt Dean. There was nothing wrong with Aunt Dean’s skin to make me feel strange sitting in her lap. There was nothing wrong with Aunt Dean’s appearance for me to feel like she had a different look. There was nothing wrong with Aunt Dean’s smell—she didn’t smell bad—for me to feel like she had a weird and peculiar smell about her. So, why did sitting in her lap and discussing with her make me feel so uncomfortable?

Sitting in her lap and talking to her made me feel uncomfortable because she was altogether unfamiliar to me. I hadn’t seen or heard from Dean since I was a baby—this might as well have been the first time we had met for me. The reason that the situation with me and Dean was uncomfortable was not because of Dean’s peculiarity, but because of my unfamiliarity. Mine and Dean’s interaction was not awkward and weird because there was something wrong with Dean; Mine and Dean’s interaction was awkward and weird because I hadn’t spoken to Dean intimately in a long time.

And this is why prayer is so distant and awkward and strange to many of us. Interaction with God is laborious and foreign to us because we treat prayer like an interaction with Aunt Dean. Or we treat prayer like that awkward cousin at a family reunion that we haven’t saw in a long time.

We need to understand that our awkwardness with prayer is not a problem on God’s part; it’s not that God feels weird, or that he smells strange. The issue with our awkward prayer is us. It is not that God is awkward; it’s that we are awkward.

The Early church flourished by dedicating themselves to prayer because Jesus entrusted them with an impossible mission – spreading the Gospel to the whole world

The Early Church had to lean and trust in prayer because they had nowhere to turn.

But so many of us want to pray but we don’t know how

There are many ways that we can pray incorrectly – Scripture gives us warnings for praying incorrectly:

Ecclesiastes 5:1–3 ESV

1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. ()

James 4:3–4 ESV

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

james 4:3

3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Jesus gave the disciples warnings for praying incorrectly:

Matthew 6:5–8 ESV

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.

Matthew 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. 6But 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. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ()

So, if there is all these ways to incorrectly pray, how are we supposed to pray?

It turns out that the disciples had this same question:

Luke 11:1 ESV

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.”

1Now 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.”

1Now 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 disci

So, Jesus gives the disciples the familiar Model prayer

Jesus was telling the disciples

Main Scripture:

9Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

We are going to dissect Matthew’s account of the Lord’s prayer and see just exactly what Jesus was telling the disciples

hallowed be your name.

10Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread,

12and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

- Do you know what you are saying when you recite the Lord’s prayer?

Body:

“Our Father…”

The context of the Lord’s prayer is corporate prayer

Private prayer is mandated – the elderly black lady from the War Room taught us that

This prayer was designed to be prayed together, not privately

Pray with your spouse

Pray with your kids

Pray with your friends

Pray with your Church

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The beginning of this prayer also signifies what the purpose of prayer is all about – a relationship with God

-

Prayer is not a wish list or a personal way of getting out of trouble – it is God’s way of graciously allowing us to be intimate with Him

4Delight yourself in the Lord,

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

“…hallowed be your name.”

“…hallowed be your name.”

This small statement is where we are introduced to the ridiculousness of prayer.

We are being allowed to enter into the throne room of the God of the cosmos – the alpha and omega, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

If we just step back for a minute, we need to understand how gracious and merciful God is to even allow us into His presence – sinners who despised Him to the very pit of their soul.

But to further make prayer ridiculous, God doesn’t just allow us in His presence, He wants us in His presence.

But we have to just stop for a moment before we pray and have a healthy understanding of who we are talking to

Isaiah 6:1–3 ESV

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

()

We change our mood and attitude depending on who we are talking to - boss

Prayer must be a worship service of God where we articulate to God how holy and wonderful and majestic, He is.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

If we are going to approach the Lord of lords and King of kings in prayer, we have to decide who’s bending to who

Are you counting on God listening to you and doing whatever you ask Him to do?

Or are you satisfied with listening to God and doing whatever He tells you to do?

Because so many times we try to use God as a wish granter – and our prayer sounds more like “My kingdom come, My will be done, on earth as it isn’t in heaven.”

If you only view prayer as an answer to your wish list, you will eventually stop praying and give up on God. Because He is the God of the universe and He is not about to subject Himself under your sovereignty.

God is not here to listen to everything you say and do whatever you tell Him to do

God is interested in conversing with you, growing you close to Him, pulling you closer and closer into His arms with each and every “Amen”, and helping you understand clearer and clearer His will for this world and portion of labor in His mission.

There is no better illustration of this than Jesus in the garden:

Mark 14:35–36 ESV

35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:35-36

35And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” ()

This is why we pray, “In Jesus name.” – its not a little phrase we tack on at the end to make sure that our prayer is legit.

When we say, “In Jesus’ name,” we are saying that Jesus agrees with what we are praying!

We are telling the Father, “Go ask your Son, He will agree with me!”

God’s desire is for us to desire Him so much that we desire His will no matter the consequences – prayer is to talk to God about His will

“Give us this day our daily bread…”

We are asking God to give us the substance that we need to just get through today.

But would we be satisfied if God only gave us everything that we needed just for today?

Biblical History says we wouldn’t

We would probably look at God and say, “Is this all you’ve got for me?”

The Israelites in the wilderness – they forgot about how incredible God was and how gracious He was to bring them out of Egypt and grumbled about God’s daily provision

But we are going further than that

The Greek word used for “daily” is “epiousios” and this is the only time in scripture that this form of the word is used and it refers to God’s provision that is needed for each day.

If you ever wondered what the apostle Paul meant when He said to pray without ceasing, this is it!

17pray without ceasing ()

Paul is urging the Thessalonians to understand their dependence upon God and prayer’s role in that dependence

I love history. I love reading about history - particularly the history of war. And it is always chilling when you read about WWI or WWII or Vietnam when U.S. forces are about to be wiped out and right before they are about to die the air force comes in and drops an airstrike on the enemy to save the soldiers.

If I am desperately dependent upon the air force to send me an air strike to wipe out the enemy, it makes no sense that I would neglect to radio the air force in.

John Piper calls prayer a war time walkie talkie

The problem is that we don’t act like we are at war.

A refusal to pray is an arrogant declaration of your independence from God – and it is a lie from the devil

We must understand that we are dependent upon God physically, spiritually, and emotionally, from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed and everywhere in between.

Prayer is where we connect to the One whom we depend on

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

luke

23And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Christianity is a daily dependence upon God where we take one step at a time and lean on Him in prayer every step of the way.

“…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Prayer should always be a big reminder of forgiveness

The fact that we are even speaking to God at all ought to make us cling to the cross and remember the sacrifice and merciful forgiveness Jesus gave to us

But it should also be a reminder of our forgiveness toward others

We are literally asking God to forgive us in the same way that we forgive others

This is a weighty statement

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

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.

Matthew 6:

14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is a conditional statement

So many times we read conditional statements like this, as Christians, and we just blow passed them –

“Man I sure am glad that I am saved and all this bitterness and these grudges I am holding toward others wont be counted against me. Shew! That was a close one!”

No, Jesus is saying that if you have been forgiven by God, you too, will forgive

God, with the same measure of forgiveness I extend toward others, extend toward me.

We can’t make empty vows toward God! – If you don’t mean what you say to God, don’t say it!

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Here we get a figure of speech from Jesus that seems to not make sense because God doesn’t tempt anyone with sin – that would go against His holy nature.

James 1:13 ESV

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.

We learn more about temptation in the next few verses of :

- We learn more about temptation in the next few verses of :

James 1:14–15 ESV

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

14But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. ()

Satan is your worst enemy when it comes to temptation – he will stop at nothing to seek to dangle sin in front of your face and make your desire for sin greater than your desire for God.

However, you are your worst enemy when it comes to sin – left uninterrupted, you will choose sin over God every time and never miss a beat.

Therefore, we need help to resist the devil and we need help to override our own selfish ambitions.

We more fully understand what Jesus is saying in the next phrase: “but deliver us from evil.”

The Greek word of “deliver” here means “to draw to oneself.”

We are asking God to draw us to Himself so that when we are tempted by the evil one, his temptations are futile,

and we are asking God to draw us to Himself so that our desire for Him and His Word and Law will be greater than our desire for sin.

James 4:6–8 ESV

6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

6“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ()

6“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ()

If we are to have any chance of resisting temptation it is going to come from a dependence in God

Conclusion:

This is not to discourage you from praying or attach a bunch of rules to prayer, but it is to help you understand how serious prayer is

God is a God of grace that will mercifully hear prayers of ignorance

God is looking for people who are committed to Him

He wants to answer our prayers!

But there are some understandings that we must have about prayer:

Understandings We Must Have About Prayer:

1. Prayer is a private act, but it wasn’t designed only as a private act.

2. Prayer is God’s mode of drawing us to Himself in relational intimacy.

3. Prayer is an act of worship and there must be a healthy understanding of who we are talking to.

4. Prayer is to never cease and is a daily dependence upon God.

5. Prayer is always a reminder of forgiveness and a reinvigoration of the cross

6. Prayer is our shield and defense to temptation and without God we will surely fail.