Teach Us to Pray: Begin With Worship

Text: (We can also refer to Matt 6:5-15)

Lk 11:1-4 KJV -

11 *And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye 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. 3 Give us ||day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Here I would like you to notice Jesus’ 5 part instruction:

Hallowed be thy name

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Give us day by day our daily bread

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For the sake of time, we will only be covering one of those instructions which is the first of how Jesus directed the disciples to pray: to worship.

The Elizabethan word, hallowed, is translated from the word

ἁγιάζω in the greek.

This simply means: holy

Essentially, Jesus was telling them to say, “Jesus your name is holy.”

We must identify that the one we are talking to surpasses sin, evil, and the flesh. There is no one like him nor will there ever be anyone like him!

Worship -

“Worship is not music; it is not songs. The instruments, singing, and dancing is an expression of worship.

Worship can simply be defined as our response to God because of who he is and what he’s done.

It is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.”

- Kalyx Bulgrin

Worship is a life style.

12 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.

Romans 12:1 KJV

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1 NRSV

What does it mean to present one’s body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God? -> Direct this toward the youth

The Moving of the Spirit dictated that Judah or Praise went before the Lord (or the Arc of the Covenant)

11 And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud pwas taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony. 12 And the children of Israel took qtheir journeys out of the rwilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the swilderness of Paran. 13 And they first took their journey taccording to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 14 uIn the first place went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah according to their armies: and over his host was xNahshon the son of Amminadab.

Nu 10:11–14.

The Banner of Worship should go before us in battle

18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.

Jdg 20:18.

Tell the story of the Levite king and how Gibeah (the Benjamites) raped and utterly destroyed the king’s wives.

The Bible tells us that the levitical king took his concubine (biblical woman) and cut her in 12 pieces and sent it out to all of Israel as a battle cry to go to war against Benjamin.

Worship is our armament for hurt...there will be times that we become wounded by unrighteous people within the church. God didn’t tell Israel to put Gad or Ishcaar first...he said it must be Judah.

When your hurting worship; When your broken worship; When you feel you can’t go on, worship

Unrighteousness should never be fought by more unrighteousness, instead it should be fought by prayer and worship.

Conclusion: Worship can lead us into the next formation of prayer, spiritual warfare

Many Christians make the mistake of praying their own desires versus the desires of God. Hence, we must die out to our fleshly desires and allow God to have His way within our lives.

Once we have submitted to the Spirit of God, we are then ready for Spiritual Warfare:

Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth

It is vital that when we pray for situations, we pray for God to have his way through His will.

Praying the Word versus our will

It can reenforce our prayer or correct it

It will most definitely keep us in line with what God wants for our life

Be careful what you pray for…this is why we must stay in the Word of God

(We must wake up to the reality that prayer is powerful; your worship is powerful)

When we do, there is no telling what kind of things God will do in our services!