The School of Prayer

“The School of Prayer”

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Have you ever had someone offered to teach you something, but you find out they don’t know any more than you do?

The first time I went snorkeling was with my brother-in-law, who said he knew all about snorkeling. We bought some snorkeling gear, and went to the lake to go snorkeling. We opened the package, and threw it away. Took our snorkel and mask and went down to the lake; I asked him, where does this rubber strap go? It doesn’t go anywhere it is part of the packaging.

I put my face in the water, with the snorkel in my mouth and drank half of the lake. I go out of the water chocking and went and got the package out of the trash. I read the instructions on the back of the package, which said connect the snorkel to the mass with the rubber strap.

I learned that day don’t ask someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to teach you.

You want someone who knows what they’re doing to teach you something you don’t know.

When it comes to praying; nobody can teach you how to pray better than Jesus! Most of us believe in the power of prayer.

We believe that God hears us when we pray in Jesus name. We believe that prayer is the secret to a holy life.

At some point in our Christian walk, we have all had to admit: We don’t pray as we should, not as quickly, not as often, not as specifically, and not as confidently. We lack the power and relief prayer can bring; so we live in fear and worry tied up in knots on the inside.

We know we need to learn to pray!

Good news, this morning Jesus, the greatest man of prayer to ever live is going to teach us how to pray. Were told, V:1-“Jesus was praying in a certain place…

The disciples had witnessed Jesus pray in many places, and at different times.

· At the time of his baptism – Jesus prayed.

· When the crowds began to pressure him to be their earthly king – Jesus went up on the mountain alone to pray.

· When Jesus was getting ready to choose his apostles – Jesus prayed all night long.

· Jesus prayed on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the glory of God shown through his humanity.

· Jesus prayed as he cast out demons, and fed the multitudes.

The disciples began to connect the dots, they notice that the miracles, healing, preaching, power and victory in the life of Jesus, was connected to his prayer life.

The disciples understood if they wanted to see God’s power to change people’s lives through their teaching, discipleship and mission efforts, they must spend time in prayer! The secret of a victorious, powerful life and ministry is prayer! The disciples clearly got this; so they come to Jesus, and do the wisest thing they had ever done! They asked Jesus, V:1-“Lord, teach us to pray”.

If you want to learn how to do something, ask someone who know how! They know Jesus, knows how to pray; and they want this kind of prayer life for themselves. God records Jesus lesson on prayer, so we can attend the school of prayer and learn how to pray. As we attend the school of prayer this morning, Jesus teaches us three lessons about prayer.

Lesson #1 Jesus teaches us how to:

1. Pray Correctly.

V:2-4.

Prayer like many aspects of our walk with God, does not come naturally, it must be taught. But for us to learn something, we must be humble enough to realize we need to learn.

The prayer that is recorded in V:2-4, is commonly called the Lord’s prayer, it is also recorded in

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This prayer is the most familiar prayer in the Bible.

Jesus isn’t telling us to memorize this prayer and pray it as a routine; instead Jesus is giving us a pattern of prayer, a model to follow as we go to God in prayer.

To pray correctly Jesus says first:

a. Praise God for Who He is.

V:2-“When you pray, say, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth”.

He starts off by saying, when you pray… Not if you pray…He is assuming we will pray!

This prayer has two directions; the first direction is Godward, we worship God for who he is.

We are to start our prayers spending some time praising God for who he is.

-“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name”.

We are to go to God in prayer with thanksgiving and praise in our hearts.

This verse tells us that God is:

1. A loving father.

V:2-“Our father which art in heaven…

While God is a Creator of all people; God is not the father of all people. God is father only to those who have believed in Jesus Christ and have been born into his family.

-“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”.

You have to be born into God’s family, if God is going to be your heavenly father.

Have you been born again? Have you received the Lord Jesus as your personal savior?

-“Because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father”.

Through faith in Jesus we pray to God as our father, coming to him as sons and daughters.

What a great blessing to come to the God of this universe as your father. When you pray you are talking to your heavenly father. He is a gracious, accessible, wonderful father. He’s never too busy for you to come to him, climb in his lap, and share your burdens and needs with him.

When my children were small and they would come and ask me for something; like ice cream for example. They would not say to me, "O, thou ministerial one, who doest stand in the pulpit and expound hermetical messages. Wouldst thou consider to extricate from thine pocketbook some of thine currency and wouldst thou consider to share that currency with us that we might matriculate to Andy’s, and receive some frozen custard”.

Of course not, that would simply say, dad can I have some money for some ice cream.

You don’t need lofty, fancy words to talk to God; you come to him as a loving father.

Maybe you’re here this morning and when we talk about God being a father, it doesn’t give you any good feelings of love and acceptance. Maybe you had an abusive father, an angry, unapproachable father. And you find it hard to imagine a kind, loving, caring father. Maybe you are an orphan, and you never knew your earthly father.

Fortunately we do not know God as father by looking at earthly fathers, because the best of earthly fathers disappoint. The way we come to know God as a kind, gracious loving father is by seeing him in the word of God! It is in the Bible that we learn that God is the perfect father, who cares for his children, who listens to us.

God is a father who understands what we need, who loves us with an everlasting love, and who always knows what is best for us.

It is on the basis of God’s love for us as our father that we come to him in prayer. We can come to God as our father; because we have a relationship with him through Jesus Christ!

We praise him for who he is:

a. A loving father

b. A holy God.

V:2-“hallowed be thy name…

This phrase reminds us of the attitude we are to have toward God as we pray. What does it mean to “hallow” God’s name? The word “hallow” means to set apart as holy, to consider holy, to treat as holy. God’s name, which refers to all that God is.

God’s person in God’s name is to be respected and lifted high.

When you walk in Arlington national Cemetery, there is a sense of respect, a hush that comes over your spirit; because that is hallowed ground. You wouldn’t think of setting up a carnival on those grounds, are throwing around a football.

We are to pray to God with a sense of awe, hush, respect and reference. Ye He is our heavenly father, but He is Holy God and worthy of our respect.

We hold God’s name in the highest regard; we must keep in mind who were talking to when we pray. Never take God’s name in vain, never refer to God as a man upstairs; but treat God with more respect that anybody on this earth! In order to pray with respect on your lips; you must live with respect in your heart! We pray for the holiness of God to be made known.

Jesus says when you pray, praise God for who he is; a loving father, a holy God.

2. A reigning king.

V:2-“thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth”.

When we pray, thy kingdom come, we knowledge that His will is more important than our will. We submit ourselves to God’s reign in our hearts; we submit to him and follow him. We want to obey King Jesus in every area of our lives. We pray that our homes will be an outpost of God’s kingdom on earth. That God’s will be done in our church. We pray for the day that Jesus returns and reigns as King over this world. To pray correctly Jesus says first, your prayer is to have an upward dimension.

a. Praise God for who he is.

A loving father, a holy God, a reigning king.

After you have praised God for who he is:

b. Ask God for what you need.

V:3-4. After we praise God, we are ready to pray for our needs. The order of prayer is important, God comes first, praising him for being our father, respecting him for who he is, submitting to his reign as king. Ask for:

1. Daily Provisions.

V:3-“give us day by day our daily bread”

This is a reminder of our dependency on our heavenly father. We are to pray for God to meet our needs of food, clothing and shelter. God wants us to depend upon him for the necessities of life.

Ask God for what you need. Whether rich or poor, God wants us to depend upon him daily, he wants us to pray for our material needs daily, and thank God for what he gives us daily. Every time you eat a meal, bow your head and thank God for providing that food for you. This reminds us that we are stewards over the resources God is given to us. Ask for:

2. Daily Pardon.

V:4-“And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.”

Every one of us sin, and we are to daily go to God asking for his forgiveness. Confession of sin is a daily part of our relationship with God.

-“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.

Thank God, that when we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us.

Martin Luther frequently said, the whole Christian life is one of repentance”.

Once we’ve experienced the grace of God in forgiveness; we extend forgiveness to others. When we forgive those who sin against us, we show our family resemblance to our father in heaven. If we refuse to forgive those who sin against us, it is clear that our hearts are not right with God.

The forgiven… forgive.

When we refuse to forgive, it is a clear indication we do not understand the grace of God and the forgiveness we have experienced through Jesus Christ. Ask for:

3. Daily Protection.

V:4-“And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”

This does not mean that God is the one who tempts us. , tells us that God does not tempt any man. It is our sinful nature that leads us into temptation and sin. Jesus is teaching us to pray, asking God to lead us away from temptation.

Ask God every day to guard your thoughts, your eyes; to guide your footsteps away from that which would tempt you to sin.

We are to pray when we are tempted, for God to provide a way of escape from that temptation. We are to pray this prayer daily, acknowledging our spiritual weakness, and our need for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us victory over sin.

The first lesson in the school of prayer is; pray correctly. We start our prayer, praising God for who he is, and then we ask God for what we need. This prayer teaches us we are to have an upward dimension and an outward dimension in our prayer life.

The second lesson in the school of prayer is:

2. Pray Persistently.

V:5-10. Not only are we taught to pray correctly; we are taught to pray persistently. As Jesus continues teaching us how to pray he gives us a story to teach us to pray persistently.

Jesus gives us:

a. A simple illustration.

V:5-8-Read.

The story Jesus tells is about friends. We also have to remember the cultural context; in that culture hospitality was a sacred duty.

No self-respecting member of a community in that day would refuse to help a neighbor in need.

In that culture if a guest arrived at your house, it was your obligation to take them in, and feed them. This man has a guest that arrived at his house at midnight; and he has no bread. Bread in that culture was a staple, every meal was eaten with bread. This man who receives the guest is in a real bind, he has no bread; there was nowhere to get bread. There was only one thing for him to do, walk next door to his friend’s house and ask him to give him three loaves of bread.

Remember, it is midnight, and he has to go next door and wake his neighbor up. Are you a heavy sleeper? Is it easy to wake you up in the middle of the night? I have just two words for anyone who tries to wake my wife up in the middle of the night: good luck! She can sleep through a tornado!

This guy goes next door to wake up his neighbor in the middle of the night, and ask him for three loaves of bread. This is not something he would normally do, but because of the demands of hospitality he has to do this. So he knocks on his neighbor’s door, Hey Ben-Ezra wake up, I have guest at my house, and I need you to give me three loaves of bread!

Ben-Ezra answers from behind the door don’t bother me, do you know what time it is, it is midnight, we are all in bed, the kids are in bed, the door is locked, I cannot get up and give you any bread. But this man will not take no for an answer! V:8-Read.

Because of the man’s persistence he will get up and give him as much bread as he needs.

Jesus says, though the man will not give him the bread because he’s his friend, yet because of his

“Importunity” he will get up and give it to him.

The word “Importunity” means-“making a persistent, pressing request”.

This man is asking for bread in a persistent, bold, shameless way. This man wasn’t concerned about social graces, he didn’t care if he woke up the whole neighborhood, he needed bread and he shamelessly persisted until he received it.

We must not press this story beyond the meaning. Jesus is not telling us that God is a sleepy headed neighbor, reluctant, grumpy, grouchy neighbor who must be talked into helping us. No!

Jesus is teaching by comparison; if the most reluctant neighbor can be persuaded to help us in the middle of the night, how much more will I heavenly father hear us when we pray. Jesus is telling us that God is not like the man in the bed. We know that God never slumbers nor sleeps, and that he loves to help his people in time of need.

We are to approach God with the same kind of bold, persistence in prayer as the man in the story.

a. A simple illustration.

b. A spiritual application.

V:9-10-Read. Jesus paints the word picture of the man persistently knocking on his neighbor’s door asking for what he needed. Then Jesus tells us we are to persist; we are to ask, seek, knock and we will get an answer. Through persistent prayer God is working in our hearts, getting us ready for his answer. We are not to ask one time, seek one time, or knock one time and then quietly tiptoe away. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking on heaven’s door. We are not to play ding dong ditch with God! We don’t ring the doorbell and run away before God can answer the door. We are to boldly persist in prayer! I heard about a duck that came waddling into a store one day. The duck said to the clerk, you got any duck food? The clerk said, No, we don't have duck food in here, get out of here. The next day the duck came back. He said, you got any duck food? The clerk said, I told you, dumb duck, we don't have duck food in here and if you come back again I'm going to nail your webbed feet to the floor.

The next day the duck came waddling back in, looked at the clerk and said, you got any nails?

The clerk said, no. The duck said, you got any duck food? That's persistence.

Persist in prayer for your lost loved ones and friends. George Mueller prayed for one of his friends to be saved for more than 60 years.

If our church is going to experience the reviving power of the Holy Spirit we must persist in prayer, asking God to send a Holy Ghost revival!

We must persist in prayer for God’s transforming work in our marriages and families, bringing healing and revival to our homes.

If we are going to grow in godliness, we must ask God to win the victory over our selfishness and our sin. If the lost Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist nations of the world are going to be saved, it will be in answer to the persistent prayers of God’s people.

Nothing great in your life or this church are in mission efforts or evangelism happens without prayer!

The three verbs, ask, seek, and knock, speak of a progression in prayer.

These three verbs, also speak of continuous action. We are to ask, and go on asking, seek and go on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.

This is how Jacob prayed in the Old Testament as he wrestled with God all night.

This is how Hannah prayed as she asked God to give her a baby, she poured out her soul to the Lord.

This is how Nehemiah prayed when he prayed and weep over the broken down walls of Jerusalem, and spent months in prayer preparing to go and rebuild them.

This is how Paul prayed, as he wished he could be cursed, that the Jewish race might be saved.

Jesus then assures us that God will answer our prayers, V:9-Read.

Jesus is teaching us to pray persistently, don’t hold back; boldly ask God for what you need!

The third lesson in the school of prayer is:

3. Pray Expectedly.

V:11-13.

If earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, how much more will our heavenly father give good gifts to his children! When you ask God for what you need, you can expect God to give you what’s best!

Jesus says no father would give his son a rock, when he asked for bread, or a snake when he asked for fish, or scorpion when he asked for an egg. Only a deranged father would do that.

Any normal father would give his son what was best for him, not what would destroy him.

Jesus is arguing from the lesser to the greater.

If we as earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to our children; how much more will our heavenly father give good gifts to his children.

If we trust our earthly fathers to give us good gifts, we can certainly trust our heavenly father to provide for our needs.

-“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

God has given us the best gift possible, he gave his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins; that through Jesus Christ we might have salvation and eternal life! If God has done that for us, why would you hesitate to ask him for anything else?

Jesus ends his lesson on how to pray by saying in:

V:13-“how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Of all the gifts that God could possibly give you, the greatest is Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit to live within your heart. The moment you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. But we need the Holy Spirit to control us, reveal the truth of the word of God to us, and gives us power for victorious living.

If we’re going to live the Christian life we must be filled, empowered and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Would you humble your heart today and pray that the Holy Spirit would control you? When the Holy Spirit feels that controls you, it will affect every area of your life; in a positive way!

In the school of prayer, Jesus teaches us how to pray!

Pray correctly, talking to God as a loving father, approaching him with a sense of awe and respect, and submitting to him as your King. Ask him to meet your needs, ask him for forgiveness, ask him to direct you steps away from temptation.

Pray persistently, keep on asking, seeking, and knocking; he will answer.

Pray expectedly, God is a loving heavenly father who will give you what’s best, you can expect God to answer your prayer. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, and control your life!

Some one here today needs to pray this prayer!

God be merciful to me a sinner. The Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You need to pray, and ask God to forgive you of your sins, and to come into your heart as your Savior and Lord! Child of God, we have been to the school of prayer today, let’s take what we have learned and practice it this week!