Prayer for Godliness

Introduction

Prayer is something we have all performed in some way or another. Prayer is our direct line of communication to our heavenly Father. Which in just a moment we will look at the “Lord’s Prayer” which should be called the disciples prayer really because it is for the disciples and not the Lord. Within it we find out who our Father is. We will see six points defining who He is in this simple 13 line prayer. that tells why it is we pray to Him and what He does in return.

But before this I want to explain why we pray.

Jesus Expects Us to Pray

Matthew 6:5, “And when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:7, “And when you pray.…”

Matthew 6:9, “This, then, is how you should pray: …”

Luke 11:9, “So I say to you: Ask …; seek …; knock.”

Luke 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples … they should always pray.

Not only do we see the words of Jesus saying it is expected of us to pray, but we have the unmistakable expectation from God.

God’s Word Makes It Clear

Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Devote yourselves to prayer. We are all devoted to something, or to many things. When we make that something a priority we will sacrifice for it. Why not do the same for prayer? It is expected by our Father and Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing,” Continual prayer. Devoting emphasizes prayer as an activity this reminds us that prayer is more than activity but a relationship. When we have people we enjoy being around we can talk for hours and it seem like a brief second. This is how our relationship to God is supposed to be.

To pray without ceasing means that prayer, communion with God, is always present. It does not mean that we only pray for that would intrude upon all the other things God desires of us. It does mean that all we do is done prayerfully.

The next thing about prayer is that:

PRAYER IS LEARNED

We do this by praying. This means you just start doing it. You call on God, you talk to him just like you talk normally. We all know how to talk so just do what is natural to you and talk to God. Then while you do this and learn more from this we next learn it:

By Meditating on Scripture. When we read Scripture, we tend to read and lay it down and go about our day. We do not spend time praying through what we are reading. We need to meditate on it and pray through it. When we do this we will begin to see large results in our life. Results of change. Change like where worry was, Scripture and comfort from God appears. Where anxiety was, Scripture and peace from God appears. Where anger was, Scripture and joy from God appears. The list is endless but I believe you get the point.

Donald Whitney gives an example of the process in his book “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life “

The process works like this: After the input of a passage of Scripture, meditation allows us to take what God has said to us and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in meaningful prayer. As a result, we pray about what we’ve encountered in the Bible, now personalized through meditation. And not only do we have something substantial to say in prayer, and the confidence that we are praying God’s thoughts to Him, but we transition smoothly into prayer with a passion for what we’re praying about. Then as we move on with our prayer, we don’t jerk and lurch along because we already have some spiritual momentum.

It is also learned By Praying With Others. When we pray with others we will pick up on aspects of their prayer life. We pray with them to learn principles of prayer not phrases. We do not want to just pray out words and things others say, but how they incorporate what they are praying. Things like Biblical reasons to God why a prayer should be answered. (Knowing the Word helps here) How to pray through passages of Scripture. How to pray for missions. How to pray for yourself and family in a proper manner. There are an endless number here too. This is biblical because we see the disciples asking Jesus in Luke 11:1 “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.””

One other way it is learned is By Reading About Prayer. There are many great books on prayer out there. We learn by experience in more than being with another who does something, we also learn by absorbing the words written down by others. We read prayers in the Bible, most all the Psalms are prayers. The prayers of Paul, Jesus’ teachings on prayer. This is Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” at its finest. Some books on prayer I recommend are

Tony Evans “Kingdom Prayer” Tim Keller’s “Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.” D. A. Carson’s “Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Formation.” and Donald Whitney’s “Praying the Bible.”

Then we need to know that:

PRAYER IS ANSWERED

David gives us the best address of this when he wrote Psalm 65:2 “O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.” and Jesus when He said in Matthew 7:7-8 ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

God answers prayer and He does provide. When we seek Him always, and study and meditate on His word, we will begin to see His will in life and pray accordingly. We need to understand that not all answers are yes or how we expect.

When we pray for healing for someone especially a believer but God calls them home, that is the ultimate healing. That is answered prayer just not how we wanted it. God answers every prayer of the believer who is praying in His will, but maybe not how we expect or want.

Hallowed: God is Wholly Other than all Things

We see that our Father is set apart. He is more than anything this world offers. He is Holy, holy, holy; Isaiah 6:3 tells us. This is Holy to the superlative. Meaning Holy, Holier, Holiest. God is the Holy one the only one who is worthy of our reverence.

Since this is the case, we revere His name. We look to Him apart from all others because He is set apart.

Not much different than two little boys sitting around discussing whose dad can beat up the others. Their dad is their super hero. He is the strongest and toughest person they know. They are fully trusting in him because to them he is set apart from all others. He is their daddy.

This is how we are to be with God the Father. He is our Father, He is the strongest and toughest. He can take care of us in all ways. He is set apart from all others because He is above all others. He is Holy and He is to be revered as such.

We see this especially in the next point.

He Is The Creator God who has Sovereignty over Creation

In the words Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven tells us he is the creator. He has a kingdom of all creation because He created it all. He has a will that is being performed in perfection in heaven and is a desire we should have to be done here.

It is because He is the creator of all that He has dominion of all. He is sovereign over all creation. He is in charge and we should rest in this.

I am not saying He ordains all that comes to pass. Such as, evils, murders, rapes, and such. No, He permits this to happen because we have freely chosen this path rather than His will to be done.

He as the sovereign God has a will for us and it is something we should be seeking always. He is the ruler and creator that is perfect and holy and perfectly loving. We see this in texts like 1 John 4:7-9, 16 which say, “love is from God…God is love…the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world…we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love....”

As our sovereign God we know He has a love for us and that His will is not for us to perish but to live in His will. He does not desire for us to suffer. That was not His intent in creation. No, He intended for us to dwell richly with Him for eternity. We messed this up. Not Him.

We should always honor God as true, righteous, holy, and as sovereign because that is the Father He is. He knows what we need and what we do not need because He is sovereign.

Because of this we know that He is

The Sustainer of All

We read that He will provide our daily bread. He will give us that which we need daily. This means that He will provide what we need when we need it. No sooner and no later.

We see this more fully in Matt. 6:25-34. In this section Jesus is telling the people to not worry or be anxious. He is the provider of the birds and the flowers. All they have is from God. If He will provide for them, then won’t He provide for us too?

The answer is, of course, yes. Yes, He will. He will give what we need when we need it.

That is where the problem for us lies. It lies in what we need. This is need not what we think we need. Or something we want.

No, it is need and need only. The text says “Daily Bread” not weekly, monthly, or yearly but daily. This means He will provide what we need as it is needed. Just as Matt. 6:34 tells us, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

As our sustainer God gives us one day at a time. He gives what is needed for that day. If we seek to look too far ahead and expend the sustenance of the day for the future, we will run out of sustenance. He provides what we need on a daily basis, it is up to us to steward this rightly.

Some of why we can rely on Him and rest in this provision is because He is

Our Deliverer

As our deliverer He has removed us from a debt we cannot pay. He has forgiven us through Christ, but for this strong vibrant relationship, of abiding in the Lord to grow and flourish, we must forgive others.

We see this in the asking of forgiveness of our debts. In our asking for forgiveness we see that the measure we are to receive in daily forgiveness, this is different than the positional forgiveness we have in Christ already, is in how we have forgiven others.

As an example let us look at Matt. 18:21-35. This is the parable of the unforgiving servant. In it we see that one servant owed an immense debt. One he could never pay. He prayed forgiveness and patience. His debt was removed. He then went and had a man imprisoned for a very minor debt he owed him. This led to the first servant being placed in prison for his wickedness.

He was forgiven his debt but he did not forgive another. He was then punished for this wickedness.

If we forgive others we are holding fast our keeping in our relationship. Our Father is our deliverer in this because He is the one who gives us the power to forgive and continue to abide in Him. He delivers us from temptations because He provides the way of escape, Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10:13.

He does not tempt us either. We see this in Matt. 6:13b. We are forgiven but still need delivered from evil. God delivers us because He loves us. He delivers us because we are His children and He desires to not see us fall.

Many think that when a believer has been killed in a horrible evil way that they were not delivered. I say they have received the ultimate deliverance.

When we are taken from this world we are immediately in the presence of the Lord in Glory. That is deliverance of the superlative in my book.

But God is not only our deliverer but He is also Our

Caregiver

He will not lead us into temptation. He as a good Father will never tempt us with anything. Neither will He lead us down a path that may bring this struggle on us.

We see in James 1:13-18 that no man is to say that when tempted that it was from God. He says that God cannot be tempted with evil and He does not tempt anyone.

We are only tempted by the things we desire in the world. All the good things are from the Lord but the temptations and evil is from us Or the world.

You see, we desire things that are not God. That is why we must always seek to see Him as set apart and hallowed and the only thing worthy of or worship and praise.

He provides and cares for us, but we have to stay focused on Him. Just as Paul wrote in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

When we do this, we are seeking God and His wisdom in all things. It is in this that He will keep us from faltering and not lead us into temptation . Again, as Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:13 God provides a way of escape, but this does not mean that He makes us take it.

Much like kids. We have all allowed a child to do something that may hurt a little to teach a bigger lesson. This is not that we have shirked our caregiver duties but that we are using tough love to teach them the proper way of doing something. This is what God does for us sometimes also.

Which lead into the sixth and final point,

Our Father is our Disciplinarian

We have this reiteration of the forgiveness aspect. As I stated earlier, we have a positional forgiveness in Christ that cannot be lost. But as our children are always our children even when they behave badly and act like heathens, so we are with God.

When a child acts up they lose some f the relational aspect of our relationship. They have acted in a manner that is inappropriate or otherwise. This is the same with us. When we act badly we are not fully abiding in the Lord. We have need of more forgiveness.

We see the truth of the positional forgiveness in 2 Cor. 5:17-21. In this section we are seen to be new creations and reconciled to God through Christ. We are so because Christ became sin for us so we might become the righteousness of God. We are locked into Him through this. Also, Ephesians 1:6-8 we see that through the blood of Christ we have redemption and the forgiveness of our trespasses. Then in Eph. 1:13 we see that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.

We are forever His once we have believed. Yet, we can be disciplined as misbehaving children.

We are His children. As such, when one has wronged us, we must forgive. Just like when we were children and a sibling wronged us If we did not forgive out of spite you were fine. If you were bitter you may have very well have gotten in trouble. The same is for the one who did the wrong. If they did not apologize with sincerity, they would get punished.

So, if we are His children we must forgive others because if we do not we do not receive the blessings we would have otherwise. God is our Father but as any good father, He loves without end but this love also has discipline included.

Conclusion

The Lord’s Prayer is so much more than just a method of how to pray. It is a list of the amazing attributes of Our Great Father.

He is great and glorious beyond any measure we could ever think or fully know. Yet, Christ gives us many right here.

What a great Father we have in God the Father.

Maybe you do not know Him as such. If not it is easy to have Him as your Father.

Jesus said that all who believe in Him for eternal life will have it. That the will of the Father is for all to know Him and have this eternal life.

If you have not believed yet, or you are not sure, It is simple. Just believe that Jesus came died was buried and rose from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins and because of this the promise of eternal life through belief in Him for it is yours forever. Do you believe this?