The Plan of Prayer- Part 2
Notes
Transcript
The Plan of Prayer Part II
Text: Matthew 6:5–15 (KJV 1900)
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Introduction:
What we covered last Sunday…
* The last time we met together we began to deal with the phrase from the Lord’s Prayer “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
* We learned two principles last Sunday about praying with the attitude “Thy will be done:”
1). First we learned that when we pray “Thy will be done,” we are praying first of all that God’s will become our own will.
2). Secondly, we learned that praying with the attitude “thy will be done” means that we are asking that God’s will prevail all over all the earth as it [does] in heaven.
* Last Sunday we dealt with 3 negative aspects of misunderstanding what praying with the attitude “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
1). First of all, praying “thy will be done” should not mean that we are left with bitter resentment because God’s will is done in our lives instead of ours.
* Praying “thy will be done” doesn't mean that you just say, oh Your will be done! I can't fight it, You're too big. I give up, as if God was sort of a cosmic killjoy, goes around saying, there's one having fun, get 'em.
* Praying God’s will be done does not mean that God is committed to raining on everybody's parade!
* Some people pray “Thy will be done” with a bitter resentment that God’s unavoidable fate, is going to take over no matter what we pray. This is not what Jesus meant as the spirit of praying “thy will be done.”
* There are people who pray ”Thy will be done,” with an attitude of bitter resentment.
* In other words it is a statement of someone who believes they cannot escape from the inevitable, and they're just mad about it.
* Now I believe this kind of attitude toward praying is built on a lack of knowledge about God.
2). The second way not to say "Thy will be done," is to pray it with a passive resignation, or a sort of indifference that says, well whatever will be will be!- Whatever will be will be, that's just the way it is, you can't fight it!
* Now, I believe praying with this kind of indifference to the power of praye,r is rooted in a lack of faith in God’s ability to really hear and answer prayer.
3). Thirdly, there is another way not to pray “thy will be done” that sometimes creeps into our prayer life is what, we will call for lack of a better term, “theological reservations.”
* Some people just say, "Thy will be done," and then they file their prayer requests it in their little theological box, having fulfilled their duty to pray.
* There is no passion to their praying! There is no crying out and pleading with God to answer their petitions! To this person Prayer becomes a dead, lifeless, powerless ritual!
* The last thing that we learned last Sunday about praying with the attitude “Thy will be done,” is that when we pray this way, we are rebelling against the way things are.
* God’s will is obviously not being done in the world as it is in Heaven!
* We talked about how passionate Jesus was against what was going on in this world down here.
* How twice Jesus stormed into the temple with righteous indignation and angrily overturned the moneychangers tables, and chased them out of the temple with a whip!
* Jesus, by saying “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” is teaching us to not accept things that way they are in this world, but to rebel against the kingdom of the Devil- Jesus by example taught us that we should fight against the will of the Devil and the sin and suffering that the kingdom of darkness has spread across this world!
* It is not God’s will that people die, or why would Christ have come to destroy death?
* It is not God’s will that people go to hell, or why would His only Son have taken the penalty of sin upon Himself so that men might escape hell?
* The Bible says in II Peter 3:9 ,
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV 1900)
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
* The fact that sin exists on earth, and sin causes such horrible consequences, is not evidence of God’s will, but it is evidence of God’s patience in allowing more opportunity for men to turn to Him for salvation before he does the next verse in II Peter 3:10:
2 Peter 3:10 (KJV 1900)
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
* And so when we pray “The will be done” we rebel and fight against the fact that God’s will is not being done on this earth!
* God’s plan for prayer is that we change this world by coming to God in prayer, praying that His will be done, starting with His will being done in our own life first.
* Now as we begin to look more closely at the phrase “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” this morningI must bring out one very important fact:
I. The greatest enemy to praying “thy will be done” is pride.
* The great enemy of God’s will is pride.
* Pride caused Satan to rebel against God, and pride causes unbelievers to reject God, and pride causes believers to disobey the will of God.
* Pride is the enemy of God’s will! Self-centeredness is the enemy of prayer!
* Originally, in the beginning, there was only one will in the universe, and that was the will of the Creator.
* Suddenly, in the heavens there appeared another will, and the Creator would have no other will in the universe but His will, and God cast the one who dared put his own will above God out of Heaven down to the earth!
Isaiah 14:12–15 (KJV 1900)
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
* Satan’s downfall was putting His will above the Creator’s will- Adam and Eve’s downfall was putting their will above the creator’s will- and your downfall my friend will be putting your will above God’s will!
* I the beginning, the only will that Adam and Eve knew was the will of the Creator, but Satan came to Eve in the garden that day and tempted her to put her will above the will of the creator.
* As a result, Adam and Eve brought upon this world all the things that are in this world that are not God’s will; like pain, suffering, sickness, death, war, rebellion, greed, lust, and evil jealousy and all other such things that come from Pride!
* These things are not God’s will, and they were brought about because of pride!
* The great enemy of God’s will is pride.
* The greatest enemy of God’s will is our will, and the greatest enemy of our prayer life is our will!
* Because of this the Bible teaches us that we are to die to ourselves and our own will!
* For God’s will to be accepted and to be prayed for in sincerity and with faith, our own self-will must be forsaken in the power of the Holy Spirit.
* The spirit filled Christian, cares little for his own will because he is always engaged in a constant pursuit of self-denial!
* Listen to the words of Jesus on denying one’s self in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23:
Luke 9:23–24 (KJV 1900)
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
* Jesus says if we are to follow Him, then we must lose our life Jesus says, we must lose our will! And say with Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy will be done!” – not my will, but thy will!
* The apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1 says:
Romans 12:1–3 (KJV 1900)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
* A sacrifice to God is dead! The priests would cut the throat of the animal sacrifice!
* I think of Abraham, and how he illustrated this principle with his very own life!
* Abraham was asked by God to give up everything that meant anyting to him in this life! His beloved son Isaac!
* His entire life was wrapped up in his beloved son Isaac and God asked Abraham to cut his throat kill the son that he lived for!
* My friends, this morning God is asking you and I to give up that which is most precious to our own selves, that being our will, and to kill it on the altar of worship to him this morning!
* A sacrifice to God, lust like that of Abraham! God is asking you this morning to sacrifice- to kill- our own will in order to live for Him!
* The apostle Paul said:
Romans 12:1–3 (KJV 1900)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…
* We are not to be consumed thoughts about our own selves and our own will, but rather, we are to be consumed with thoughts about God and His will!
* Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 22:37:
Matthew 22:37–38 (KJV 1900)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
* The great enemy of God’s will is pride. God will have no other will in his children but His will!
* The greatest enemy of God’s will is our will, and the greatest enemy of our prayer life is our will! We must kill it now!- as a sacrifice to God, “which is our reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1–2 (KJV 1900)
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
* And now, knowing that pride, selfishness, thinking about more of ourselves than we do God, is the great enemy of our prayer life, lets move on and talk a little bit about the nature of God’s will.
II. Understanding the will of God.
* There are three distinct aspects of God’s will as He reveals it to us in His Word.
1). The first aspect of God’s will, is what may be called God’s will of purpose-
* God’s will of purpose is the vast, comprehensive, and tolerating will of God.
* God’s will of purpose is expressed in the unfolding of His sovereign plan- a plan that embodies all of the universe, including heaven, hell, and the earth.
* This is God’s ultimate will, of which Isaiah wrote,
“The Lord of hosts has sworn saying ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand’ ” (Isa. 14:24; cf. Jer. 51:29; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:9–11; etc.)
* This is the will of God that allows sin to run its course and Satan to have his way- but only for a season.
* But in God’s appointed time sin’s course and Satan’s way will end exactly according to God’s plan and foreknowledge, and God’s will of Purpose.
2). The second aspect of God’s will, is what may be called God’s will of desire.
* This is within God’s will of purpose, and completely consistent with God’s will of purpose, But God’s will of desire it is more specific and focused.
* Unlike God’s will of purpose, His will of desire is not always fulfilled; in fact, it is very unfulfilled in comparison to Satan’s will in the world in which we live.
* For example, Jesus greatly desired that Jerusalem be saved, and He prayed, preached, healed, and ministered among its people, so that Israel would be saved.
* But very few believed in Jesus; and as a matter of fact, most people who heard Jesus preach, rejected Him, and in the end, they even crucified Jesus.
* In Luke 13.34 Jesus prayed
Luke 13:34 (KJV 1900)
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
* This happened over and over again to Jesus!, God’s very Son!
* Like the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, most people even today are not willing to come to Jesus for the abundant life He came to give them! (John 5:40; cf. 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
* God’s will of desire is not always done in the earth.
* The will of God’s desire is for the unsaved and the sinners of this world, and the will of God’s desire explains why God does not carry out his will of purpose right now. –
* He is tolerating the terrible shape this world is in, in order to save as many as will repent and be saved!
3). The third aspect of God’s will, is what may be called God’s will of command.
* This will of God, is entirely for saved people, because they are the only ones that have the capacity to obey God’s commands.
* God’s will of command, is the strong desire of the heart of God, that we who are His children, obey Him completely and immediately with a willing heart.
* The apostle Paul says in Romans 6 and verse 16:
Romans 6:16–18 (KJV 1900)
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
* So that you are clear about what I just said, Lets summarize the three aspects of the “will of God.”-
1.) First, God’s will of purpose embrace the ultimate end of this world, Christ’s second coming and the setting up of His eternal kingdom.- This aspect of God’s will is for everybody.
2). Secondly, God’s will of desire embraces men coming to God for salvation;- This aspect of God’s will is for the unsaved.
3). And thirdly, God’s will of command embraces the commitment and obedience of His children.- This aspect of God will is for the saved.
* Now lets move on to the most important question about the will of God:
III. How do I know God’s will for my life?
* This now leads us to the question “How do I know what God’s will is for my life?”
* Now the first and most immediate answer to this question is- God’s will for you is written down in His word.
* That’s where you start- know the word of God.
* The next step is obey what you know. God’s will is done in heaven by the angels- and from the Scriptures we know that this is how the will of God is done by the angels in heaven.
In the Bible, the angels do the will of God in heaven:
- Without wavering,
- They do the will of God completely,
- They do the will of God sincerely,
- They do the will of God willingly,
- They do the will of God fervently,
- they do the will of God readily,
- They do the will of God swiftly,
- and they do the will of God constantly.
* That's the way the angels do the will of god it in heaven, and when we pray “Thy will be done in earth as it is in haven”, that is the way we are to obey God’s Word, which is the revealed will of God, on the earth!
* Now you say, but what about the individual details of my life? Well there is a passage that deals with how to find God’s will for your life.
* Turn with me now in your Bible to Psalms chapter 32 and verse 7.
God's Unseen Hand
Psalms 32:7
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, Or as the mule, which have no understanding:
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, Lest they come near unto thee. 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
* Look with me at verses 7 and 8:
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
I will guide thee with mine eye.
* The will of God is never a straight path.
* The path that the Lord has prepared for you will have many twists and turns.
* Along the way that God has prepared for you there are many dangerous landmines to be avoided.
* the man Christian, in the story of the Pilgrims Progress, as he was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the path got so narrow in places that he feared that his very next step would plunge him into the pit of dangers below.
* This passage here in psalms 32 teaches that there is an Unseen Hand guiding you into the will of God for your individual life this morning!
* The Psalmist also said:
Psalm 23:3–6 (KJV 1900)
3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
IV. How to follow the God's Unseen Hand.
* The second half of our text uses the illustration of the horse and mule to teach us not to fight against God's Unseen hand.
9 Be ye not as the horse,
Or as the mule, which have no understanding:
Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
Lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
* Now David, being a man of war knew something about horses and mules.
* David knew first of all, that in their natural state, an untrained state, they would not come near you.
* Now anybody that know anything about horses and mules, knows that there is nothing worse than a horse or a mule that you can't catch!
* Let me share with you one of my first learning experiences about horses and mules.
* This is one of a series of "adventures", or may I say "learning experiences," I have experienced while hanging out with Debbie's dad.
Illustration: "The pony that nobody could catch"
* I look out here on the congregations this morning and I see a few horses and mules that are hard to catch.
* God has been chasing you around for years now trying to get your attention.
* This reminds me of a story about a preacher who was going to go for an afternoon ride with one of his church members one Sunday afternoon.
* This wise old country farmer went to the barn and brought out an old mule.
* He proceeded to put the harness on the old mule, and hooked him up to the cart. He made sure he had all the harness and britching hooked up all correctly, then he said "hold on preacher, I need to do one more thing!"
* The old farmer picked up a piece of a two-by- four he kept near the barn door and hit that mule right between his ears as hard as he could! Then he said ok, were read to go now.
* Well the preacher was standing there kind of puzzled. He looked kind of like a calf looking at a new gate! He thought a minute, and then he asked the old farmer "What did you hit that mule on the head for?"
* The old farmer looked at the preacher and said "I can't do anything with him until I get his attention!"
* God this morning knows something about horses and mules- and God knows a few things about people too!
* When we are stubborn, and not ready to hear God, when He is leading us to obey the instructions in the Bible, and we are stubborn like a mule, God will use the circumstances of life, like that old country preacher to get our attention!
* God is instructing us in our text this morning to be of an understanding heart, not like the horse or mule who has not understanding!
* God, in our text, instructs us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as He molds us and guides us into His perfect will thru Word of God, prayer, and the leading of His sweet Spirit!
* God knows about horses and mules. God knows that horses and mules are very different.
* God knows that horses and mules represent two very different kinds of Christians this morning.
* Horse and mules represent two extremes:
1) The horse rushes ahead impulsively!
* Some Christians are like the horse, that when you climb on his back he takes of like a bolt of lightning! Oh, he rages and twists and bucks and is impatient!
* When you begin to train a horse you have to work hard to teach him to stand still!
* Some Christians are like horses. You can't get them to stand still long enough to teach them anything!
* The first time the preacher preaches something they don't like from the Bible, they take off and go cause problems for some other church.
*They should have stayed still and lined themselves up with the Word of God!
* They should have stayed where they were and allowed the Holy Spirit to cause them to grow and be conformed to God's will for their life.
* Now on the other hand, some Christians are like mules. A mule now, is just the extreme opposite of the horse.
* Where the horse is impatient and rushed ahead of his master, the mule on the other hand lags behind with a stubborn attitude!
* Now on the other hand, many church members are like the old mules, they are stubborn and resistant to change!
* When you start to train a mule, he's like a blank sheet of paper. He's not all fired up and hyper like a horse.
* Once a mule learns something, he never forgets it! You take a mule that has learned a bad habit, you got to beat him half to death to teach him something different!
* God knows that many church members are like mules.
* They are the ones that when the preacher stands and tries to lead the church in some direction that the Holy Spirit of God has revealed for the church to go, they say "Well preacher, we never did it that way before around here, and I don't see no need to change things now!"
* I want to point out two things about a mule:
2a) A mule is always against everything!
* It doesn’t matter what it is, if it wasn't his idea, he is going to be against it.
* Many Christians are just like that.
* This kind of disobedient, stubborn Christian can destroy a church and a good pastor.
* When you see this kind of kind of Christian in your church, pray for them get their heart right with God, or get out of the way!
2) A mule is stubborn.
* I was discussing the problem of dealing with a stubborn church member with another elderly preacher once, and he gave me some advice from his wisdom he had gained as a pastor over the years.
* He told me "I have learned that sometimes when you are plowing a field, it would be much more effective, rather than wasting your time digging up that old stump that's in the way, to just plow around it and let God rot it out!"
* There are many church members who are stubborn like a mule.
* When I was a teenager my dad had a word for that- when I got crossways with dad, and thought I knew more than he did, he would call me mule-headed!
* My friend God gave this passage of Scripture this morning because He know that there would be some mule-headed church members in the church!
* Now those who are like the horse or the mule, they don't like to be led by the Word of God.
* They don't like to be led by the Spirit of God!
* They don’t like to be led by the man of God!
* Since they don't like to be told what to do, these folks will begin to murmur and complain against the preacher.
* You can know who the horses and mules are in the church by the sound they make!
* Another old preacher told me one time that when your preaching the Bible, it kind of like throwing a rock into a pack of dogs! Whichever one yelps is the one you hit!
* When the man of God, let by the Spirit of God, preaches the Word of God, to a group of believers, the ones that start he-hawing and snorting, stomping their feet, murmuring and complaining, talking about the preacher, pointing their fingers... That’s the ones that he hit with his message! That’s the mules and horses in the congregation!
* Mark it down, the ones that are causing all the racket are the horses and mules that refuse to be led by the Word of God!
* These are the ones that refuse to be led by the Spirit of God-
* These are the ones that refuse to listen to the man of God!
* God has said in our text:
9 Be ye not as the horse, Or as the mule, which have no understanding: Whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,
* God knows that some folks in the church are going to act like horses and mules! He says “don’t act like an animal that doesn’t understand what his master wants him to do!”
* The Lord wants us to be of an understanding heart and willing to hear his voice as He leads us with His Unseen Hand this morning.
* Last of all we see in Psalms 32 and verse 10 that things are going to work out good for those who are sensitive to the leadership of the Unseen Hand of God.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
* I’ve got good news this morning, you can trust that unseen hand to lead you into God’s perfect will for your life!
* If you stay in close fellowship with God the mighty unseen hand of God will guide you into His perfect will for your life.
* Romans chapter 8 and verse one says:
Romans 8:1 (KJV 1900)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:28 (KJV 1900)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:13–14 (KJV 1900)
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Conclusion:
* With every head bowed and every eye closed I want to talk to you just a moment this morning.
* The Bible says that “as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God this morning.
* If you are here and you can say preacher I have experienced the unseen hand of God guiding me and leading me, I know that I am a child of God this morning, would you slip up your hand toward heaven as a testimony that you are saved this morning?
* You can put your hands down now. There were some of you that could not raise your hand when the others did this morning.
* You don’t know for sure if you have ever been saved. Would you slip up your hand and by doing so say preacher pray for me, If I were to die tonight, I don’t know if I would go to Heaven or Hell.
* There may be one here this morning that has not been living close to the Lord for quite a while.
* You haven’t been led by the Spirit of God in a long time, but God has spoken to your heart this morning, and He is once again trying to lead you by His Spirit.
* Would you lift your hand and say preacher, I want to restore my fellowship with the Lord this morning?
* I’ve been away for too long, I’m like the prodigal son and I want to come home this morning.
* The song leader and pianist are going to come and lead us in a song of invitation this morning.
* If God has spoken to your heart this morning come and meet God at this alter and act upon that leading by the Holy Spirit.