Becoming a Person of Prayer, Part 1
Becoming a Person of Prayer—Matthew 8:1-3
Intro…
- How can you become a person of prayer?
- Not just a person who prays (even a lot)…
- What is a person of prayer?
- A person who prays unceasingly…
- A person who prays effectively…
- ETS: This Leper was a person of prayer.
- ESS: You can become a person of prayer partly by following the leper’s example.
I. He was a person with a need… (2a)
- “And behold, a leper…”—A man w/leprosy.
- This was a man w/a need—What is leprosy?
- It was a skin disease (not like what we currently call Leprosy)
- Actually it was used to describe a variety of skins ailments.
- Num. 12:12, Job 18:13, 2 Kings 5:7 describe it—death sentence.
- Lepers weren’t required to stay in total isolation…
- This leper was in need & he knew it.—So he went to Jesus
- We’re all people in need!
- When you pray you’re admitting you’re in need.
- When we’re sick, hurting, tired—we’re in need.
- This is God’s specialty—helping his children in need.
- Matthew 11:28-29, Matthew 7:7-11
II. He was a person of humility… (2b)
- “came & knelt before Him”—KJV—Worshipped Him
- The Greek word means—“before” (pros), “kiss” (kuneo)
- To kiss before/bow down & kiss the feet of
- By doing this you put yourself below the lowest point of another.
- It was baptized to mean fall prostrate/worship.
- The leper humbled himself.
- If you’re to be a person of prayer, you must be a person of need & a person of humility
- Luke 18:10-14, James 4:10
- Sometimes we go to God w/too high a opinion of ourselves.
III. He was a person of faith… (2c)
- 1st—He prayed according to Jesus’ will…
- Going to God in prayer isn’t about getting your way.
- If you want to, Lord, if it’s your desire…
- 2nd—He believed in Jesus’ power…
- Leprosy was a death sentence, most people would die w/it.
- But He knew Jesus could cleanse/heal him.
- If you want to be a person of prayer, you must be a person of great faith!
- “Prayer projects faith on God, and God on the world. Only God can move mountains. But faith & prayer move God.”—EM Bounds.
Closing…
- Look at what Jesus did b/c of His compassion for the need, his humility & faith…
- 3 encouraging truths we learn here…
- Jesus is waiting…
- Jesus is willing…
- Jesus is able…
Numbers 12:12 (ESV) 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
Job 18:13 (ESV) 13 It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
2 Kings 5:7 (ESV) 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
Luke 18:10-14 (ESV)10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
James 4:10 (ESV)10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
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[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001